<p>I'm just curious as to whether any schools in the East or South allow students to leave campus without a big production (and if so, at what grade level). Obviously the school would have to be in a small-town, Mayberry-ish setting. I just think it would be good for the kids to be able to walk to the drug store to get an ice cream cone or whatever.</p>
<p>I grew up walking to town on my own, starting at age 6. I just hate to see kids treated like prisoners.</p>
<p>I know that SAS, kids often ride their bikes or walk to the local shopping center….I would guess they have to sign out somewhere, but it’s not like they have to get my permission every time.</p>
<p>From the schools that we’ve toured, the kids are allowed to leave campus if the parent says it’s ok. They have different ways of going about that…but most of them gave the parent a chance to sign a permission slip at the beginning of the school year or if the parent wants to be more involved with individual decisions, they can call the parent each time the student wants to leave campus. So it’s what works for your family</p>
<p>Choate considers the town of Wallingford to be an extension of campus. As long as students are back in their dorms by evening check-in, they are free to wander the “extension” which includes shops, restaurants, pubs, Wal-Mart, etc. Parents sign a form before the beginning of the school year regarding leaves to the homes of day students and school trips, but the town of Wallingford is considered Choate’s back yard with no restrictions. The school is not fenced of gated in any way, and one of the town’s main streets runs through campus, so it would be almost impossible to supervise.</p>
<p>Of the many many schools that I have toured with my children, none restricted kids from walking into town when there was an adjoining town in which to walk.</p>
<p>I know Miss Porters allows its students to walk into town as well.</p>
<p>I think the complication arises when it’s something like SPS or Groton, which is a bit detached from a town center….but the OP seems to understand that.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your comments. I was aware that at many schools “walking” into town is impossible. I guess the next thing to do is to try to get a list of schools which are located in smaller towns which are considered extensions of the campus. If anyone wants to share the names of any such schools that come to mind, please go right ahead!</p>
<p>Andover considers the Town of Andover as part of the campus and no special permission is required to walk into town. Parents sign a permission slip at the beginning of the year that allows the student to make overnight visits to a day students home if invited. There is a process in place to check off campus and to check back onto campus. This is necessary so the school is able to keep track of your whereabouts since they are your guardian
when you are a boarding student.</p>
<p>At SAS, students sign out and in using a notebook near the Founders Hall common room. The shopping center is a mile walk or bike drive, and one drives into the school often seeing students in groups doing it. There is a Starbucks, Vietnamese restaurant, full-size grocery store, hair cuttery, etc., located there. Another half mile opens up more options for restaurants, like Friendly’s. </p>
<p>All of the MAPL schools are right in town, or border one. Blair or Hill might be the least optimally situated for what the students want, while L’ville is sitting pretty cool with options. Restaurants are literally right across the street, as at Peddie/Hightstown, and include some higher-end options. The bus right there at the gates makes for a short ride into Princeton; the Lawrentians avail themselves of this more than the Falcons take the Hightstown/Princeton bus. (Both schools have public transport into New York, too.) </p>
<p>Most of these schools have a menu of options for parents to sign off on for what level of liberty and transport options they want their children to have.</p>
<p>Not in the East or South - but at Thacher, kids can go to downtown Ojai (about a 10 min. bus ride) Wed. afternoons and Saturdays - bank, shops, restaurants, grocery store, amazing bookstore. Buses run in a circular loop - pickup/dropoff about every 30 minutes. A couple of times a trimester, students also can sign up for a bus to Ventura or Santa Barbara (everyone leaves at the same time, and comes back at the same time.)</p>
<p>Many of the schools that are more rural also offer regular weekend van rides to the mall or to shopping - no special permissions required. Some schools make trips into NYC or Boston for cultural events and also include some roaming time. Doesn’t make sense to have a child fly alone from Shanghai and then not let them go get a burger…</p>
<p>What about students spending the night over at day student’s house or traveling a distance to spend the night at another border’s home? Typically does this happen without the parents permission? If my daughter was in high school and she wanted to spend the night over at a friends house I would imagine a quick call to make sure a parent was around would be a normal scenario. What do you do? Do you typically even know what they are doing on the weekends? I am sure 17 year olds are different than 14 year olds-</p>
<p>Along with all the other new student paperwork, my D’s school sent a VERY detailed permission form with many different scenarios: permission to walk/go running off-campus with another girl? Permission to stay over at a day student’s home with parental supervision? Without the day student’s parents at home? and many, many more. Covered all the bases.</p>
<p>My experience is that stores, restaurants and other places students need/want to frequent should be within 3-4 blocks from the campus. Further than that, even if they are within the extension of campus, they are unlikely to be very useful. Consider the campus is pretty big in the first place, it’d be often more than 3-4 blocks of walk from your original starting point.</p>
<p>I don’t know, my daughter and her friends regularly walk a little over mile to a pizza joint because the like it a lot better than the one 3 blocks away so it depends on the kids.</p>
<p>But boarding school kids generally have a lot of freedom. On a recent day trip to NYC, the bus dropped them at times square at 9:30 and picked them up at 8:00. They were encouraged to stick in small groups. I had called earlier to see if dd could just use the trip there and not back (take a train home). It was no problem. They just made a note that she wasn’t coming back with them. I was about to explain how she was fine navigating NYC alone, but they weren’t concerned. So she trotted off her own way to meet some non school friends for brunch and then to Penn to catch a train. Hardly a prisoner.</p>
<p>Neato, Wait till she’s been there for over 2 months and all the work starts piling up… Occasional venturing out including day trips to cities close by is another story. In any case, the convenience is a nice addition but kids are busy and when they are free they’d rather hang around close by than walking a mile in the cold or heat just to go somewhere nice they have been too a couple times already.</p>
<p>Episcopal High School located in Alexandria, VA allows students to leave campus (on a hill) without prior permission and visit a small strip shopping plaza (Bradlee) across from the campus. This plaza is considered a part of the campus. There are a variety of useful stores including a pizza, Rite-Aid, Safeway, Hallmark, Postal Center, Starbucks, Chiropractor, etc. However, plaza visits are only allowed on Wednesday afternoons and weekends. </p>
<p>Anything beyond the plaza, including a trip into D.C. requires parent and faculty permission; where are you leaving, with whom, where, when will you return, and contact #, etc. They encourage students to travel in at least pairs. My son is allowed to go into Old Town to get a haircut. Other than a haircut a few miles away, DS has not ventured alone beyond the plaza. </p>
<p>On weekends, EHS provides shuttles to various locations including malls and trips into DC. Georgetown, etc. Students are dropped off, venture off in groups, and then return with the shuttle.</p>
<p>In all, we visited about 10 schools. It was normal at all of them for the kids to go into the nearby towns without much ado. (Just sign-out, sign-in.) If town wasn’t in walking distance, school provided a shuttle. Are there are in fact any prep schools where the kids are more in “lockdown” mode?</p>
<p>I don’t think any school has a “lockdown” policy per se. There are schools located in the center or close to the center of a town with stores, restaurants and other places in walkable distance, and there are schools more remotely located that makes it more difficult or impossible to walk around. That’s all.</p>
<p>I’m thinking back to all the schools I have visited. The one that I recall NOT having a town right outside the gates are: Middlesex, Groton, SPS, Hotchkiss, Deerfield (not technically true since it pretty much IS the town, but I don’t remember seeing any places teens would go to), and St Andrews.</p>