To the Editor:

I am a freshman at West Grand High School. On April 10, Mrs. Wass (mother to a West Grand 8th-grader) submitted a letter (to the school board) saying that freshmen and sophomores shouldn’t be allowed open campus lunch.

She claimed that we shouldn’t be allowed this privilege because an “accident involving several high school students” occurred in which all were sent to Kremmling Memorial Hospital and one was sent to Denver.

I was involved in that accident, and I was sent to Denver. What had happened was another freshman (Brandi) and I were sitting on the tailgate of our friend’s (truck). We had chosen to sit in the back only because the cabin was crowded. We chose to sit on the tailgate because we were in Kremmling Country going about 5 mph.

WE CHOSE TO BE DUMB. We fell out because (the driver) accelerated to around 27 mph and we fell out since we were not holding on. I was only rushed to Denver because I have a serious disease that almost killed me in September. To make my antibodies stronger, I have to take the steroid Prednisone. Because of this, and because Brandi had landed on me, they thought I might have ruptured my spleen or had internal bleeding.

We were fine. I only had a minor skull fracture, concussion, and road rash. The accident wasn’t bad at all.

Does it seem fair that the decision to take away our open campus should be left to the parent of a middle schooler? Yes, her daughter will be going here next year, but that is beside the point. This is the first accident to happen during lunch in a long time.

If you don’t want your child to leave campus for lunch then you may tell Mr. or Mrs. Bonds and they will arrange some sort of way to make sure your child stays.

Brandi is not allowed to leave, and most days I stay with her because she is my best friend, and I’m not allowed to get rides anymore. It’s not like open campus is so bad, and it’s not like the kids go and smoke and drink.

And how would we get a healthy lunch by staying? THEY DON’T SERVE LUNCH AT THE HIGH SCHOOL. If high school kids want to eat school lunch, they have to walk to the middle/elementary school.

Please don’t take away open campus just because we were dumb. Open campus is a good thing.

Thank you for your consideration.

Leslie Hirt

Kremmling