We’ve all heard the announcements: “Due to inclement weather, the courtyard will be closed for the remainder of the day.”  Usually, this is a false alarm for students wishing to hear that there will be an early release.

However, the real question is why does the courtyard get closed?

Initially, this question is mind boggling.  Back in the days of the campus, nothing could stop the changing of the periods, not even heavy snowfall.  In all my time spent on the campus, I can only recall the period switch being delayed one time, and it was only for 5 minutes.  Back then, the maintenance staff worked diligently to salt the walkways and ensure student safety (although black ice has victimized many).

Nowadays, it seems like whenever there’s any wintry precipitation, administration doesn’t hesitate to close the courtyard.  This is simply outrageous.  First of all, this has an effect on hallway traffic.  If no one is traveling through the courtyard, then logically more people are traveling through the hallways.  The hallways of this school are already too small to begin with, so an increase in traffic could cause complications.

Also, some people, like myself, enjoy a nice breath of fresh air throughout the day.  The air in this school is stale to say the least, and it would be an understatement to say that getting some fresh air is rejuvenating.

The worst part of all is that sometimes when the courtyard is closed, it is thoroughly salted.  The irony of this is obvious.  I can understand closing the courtyard when the safety of students is at risk, but with a little salt, there is little to no risk.  Additionally,  the courtyard is very small in relation to the size of the old campus’ walkways.  If salting those walkways was done so school could take place, how much of an undertaking is salting the courtyard?  The answer is “not much of an undertaking at all”.  In fact, I could salt the courtyard myself in less than 30 minutes.

That takes me to my answer to the question, “why is the courtyard closed.”  The answer is simple.

Before moving to the new BPHS, salting the walkways was necessary for school to take place.  They couldn’t just close the campus.

But now, the courtyard is not necessary.  It is simply an alternate route that could or could not be taken advantage of.  Because of this, salting the courtyard has lost importance.  For the staff, it is easier to just close the courtyard instead of taking the short amount of time to ensure its safety.

This is unfortunate for the students who enjoy venturing outside between classes.  I can recall that one of the “selling points” of this new high school was the idea of still being able to go outside between classes, which was one of the main benefits of the campus.  However, now it seems that whenever there is any wintry precipitation, the courtyard will be closed.

Closing the courtyard is illogical, as salting it is not much of a task.