My name is Caroline Dailey, and I started this petition because I think kids in Carlisle should have a safe place to spend time with their friends after school.

My friends and I like to stay outside after school to play Nine Square, basketball, play on the playground, talk with our friends, and just be together. In the winter, we play in the snowbanks.

We aren’t asking the school to entertain us or organize activities for us. We just want to be able to spend time together outside.

When students were told that we couldn’t stay on the plaza after school, I wanted to understand why. My family and I looked for a written rule about it, but we weren’t able to find one.

I’ve always been taught that if I don’t understand something, I should respectfully ask questions and ask why. That’s what I’m trying to do.

There also aren’t many places in Carlisle where kids our age can independently spend time with their friends. We’re too young to drive somewhere, and many of the places where kids have traditionally gathered aren’t available to us year-round.

At the same time, adults are always telling kids to get off our phones, spend less time on social media, go outside, and spend time with our friends in person.

That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.

I understand that there need to be rules. We should respect the school, clean up after ourselves, stay out of the way of buses and school activities, and behave appropriately.

I’m not asking for no rules. I’m asking for a way to make this work.

If supervision is required, I’m asking the school administration to make an effort to work with the Parent Teacher Association, Carlisle Recreation Department, parents, and other community organizations to see whether together we can find a solution that meets those requirements.

I don’t expect any one organization to solve this problem. I hope the adults in our community will work together with students to find an answer.

What we’re asking for

We are asking the Carlisle School Committee and school administration to find a way for middle school students to continue gathering on the plaza and appropriate outdoor school areas after dismissal, with reasonable expectations for safety, behavior, cleanup, school activities, and supervision.

In just the first day of circulating the paper petition, nearly 200 of Carlisle’s 276 middle school students signed it.*

I think that says something important:

Kids want and need a place to be together.

Please sign this petition if you support Carlisle students having a safe place to spend time together, play outside, and develop age-appropriate independence.

If we’re going to tell kids to get off their screens and go be kids, we need to give them somewhere to do it.

 

*Total student count is my own, last year CMS was 252 students.