Sam Bernstein staff writer
The Board of Education voted on Oct. 9 to put up temporary fencing along the front lawn facing Moreno Drive. While this may be unpopular with students, (89.2 percent of the 74 students who responded to our poll disagree with this decision), this is a good decision by the board because it shows that they care about the students’ well being.
A lot happens on the front lawn.  The front lawn is utilized by several student organizations and needs to be protected. Boys and girls lacrosse conditions there in the fall and winter seasons, band practices there on Thursdays during marching season, color guard rehearses on the lawn on Mondays during its season and ASB has events there, like dodgeball tournaments and tug-of-war.
It’s not right that anybody can walk on our front lawn as if it is a public park, especially with so much going on there every day. People can do virtually anything on our lawn because of the lack of supervision. Lacrosse has had issues with people who don’t curb their dogs on the lawn. To combat this, small signs requesting the curbing of dogs have appeared around the perimeter of the front lawn along the sidewalk, but that simply just is not enough. A fence needs to exist.
Dog poop on the lawn isn’t the biggest driving factor in building a lawn fence. One of the major pros of new fencing is how a closed area will enhance lacrosse conditioning. Freshmen on lacrosse put up PVCs (plastic pipe nets) every day to keep lacrosse balls from flying into the streets. However, these are not effective. Balls go over, around and sometimes through the flimsy nets daily, forcing players to miss valuable practice time to chase balls across streets. It adds an extra danger to pedestrians walking along the front lawn on Moreno Drive who are at constant risk of getting hit with an 80 mile-an-hour rubber lacrosse ball. There’s also risk of car windows getting smashed in with these hard balls and even potential property damage for the houses across the street. On top of all this, athletes chasing lacrosse balls across streets are at constant danger of getting hit by a car. With a fence, these risks are erased. Lacrosse athletes and pedestrians are at no danger of getting hurt.   
To those worried about the loss of freedom, there aren’t any primary exits currently leading to the front lawn. The proposed fence only goes around the front lawn. There is truly nothing about the fence that could take away from students’ freedoms on campus.
One more benefit of fencing on the front lawn is that it makes it a possible lunch area for students. Students aren’t at risk of being watched by unwanted onlookers. Students are also protected from solicitors pushing political or religious agendas outside of the campus. Everyone using the front lawn can be more at ease during their breaks from class, which is always a good thing.
A front lawn fence is necessary in school enhancement projects. Students deserve the comfort and protection that would be offered from a fence.