Menlo freshmen are not allowed to leave campus during school hours, but for sophomores, juniors and seniors, it’s an open campus, and students can come and go from Menlo as they please. 

“At Menlo, our whole discipline [and] student culture is based on building strong relationships with teachers and overall being a good person,” Dean of Student Life Programs and Freshman Class Dean Eve Kulbieda said.

Kulbieda outlined multiple reasons why freshmen cannot go off campus. Firstly, she believes as freshmen enter their first year of high school, they need to adapt to the new environment and need to learn to follow rules. “We want the freshmen to use their tutorials and free periods effectively and meet with teachers instead of going downtown and hanging out with their friends,” Kulbieda said.

According to Kulbieda, it is a privilege to have an open campus, especially during high school, and, at Menlo, privileges need to be earned. In addition, she believes that, as freshmen go downtown, friend groups are confined and limited because “When they go downtown, they go with a couple of their already-close friends. The hope is that if they stay on campus, they will study with and get to know new people,” Kulbieda said. “We want the freshmen to build that sense of close community that we hold at Menlo.”

Moreover, freshmen have not yet established a rhythm within the school, and according to Kulbieda, students have missed class because they went off campus. “These impulsive decisions of going downtown could develop habits within the freshmen and they could, in the future, keep developing these habits of breaking rules and acting impulsively,” Kulbieda said.

There are multiple disciplinary levels if a student were to go off campus. The first time a freshman gets caught going off campus during school hours, they have to have a conversation with Kulbieda. The second time, they have a discussion with the Upper School Assistant Director Maren Jinnett, and the student’s parents are brought into the conversation. The third time the freshman is caught going off campus, they face the Menlo disciplinary committee.

Jinnett only meets with students who disregard rules after they have been reminded of Menlo’s expectations. “If I were [to discipline a student], I would likely start with a thoughtful conversation with them, restate the expectations, and let their family and advocate know,” Jinnett said. “If it were to happen multiple times after that, I might ask the discipline committee for consultation [or] advice, depending on the situation.”

Menlo freshman Katelyn Chou went downtown once and had to talk to Kulbieda. “Ms. Kulbieda’s reasoning didn’t really make sense to me. I don’t think that being a sophomore or a freshman will be very different, and just one year of age won’t change how responsible I am,” Chou said.