After student complaints about off campus passes, VHS administration has come up with a new way to decide who is allowed into the lot. The 2023-24 school year included a new security system where students are required to show their student ID with an off campus sticker to be allowed into the lot during lunch. Students have expressed their discontent with this policy, which has caused administration to revoke extracurriculars such as Prom, Senior ball, Homecoming and reducing lunches to ten minutes.

“We are tired of students asking to get their notebooks and lunches out of their car without a thorough inspection, so we have created a high intensity boot camp that will determine if you can access your car or not,” said VHS Principal Priscilla Botany. The boot camp will consist of three weeks in Bakersfield with no phones or service, and a daily routine of intense workouts, followed by surprise academic tests with no warning.

“Only the fittest of students should be allowed off campus during the school day, it is something that not everyone should have access to,” Botany continued. After the three weeks of intensity, students who have survived will be awarded with an off campus pass. Any student who has completed their training, but has forgotten their off campus pass or physical student ID will not be allowed into the lot. “If you can’t remember to bring a small ID to school, you don’t deserve to be let into the lot,” said the administration unanimously.

Parents of VHS students have expressed their concern for their children, John Johnson said, “I don’t feel safe letting my child go to Bakersfield to some secretive camp where I don’t have access to her phone. I think it is excessive for getting onto the parking lot.” There are no signs of letting up from administration, as all concerns have been met with even further restrictions and threats to take away off campus access altogether. 

Upper class students have protested this by deciding to walk to school instead, so the student lot is empty at all times. “I would rather walk five miles to school everyday than go to Bakersfield and conform to their insane rules,” said Lisa Jane ‘24.