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On July 14, Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) Administrative Team announced through a message on Jupiter Grades and in The Baron Times newsletter, that students cannot be picked up, dropped off or allowed entry into the Ralphs grocery store across from the BVH campus. In the 2022-2023 school year there were recurring incidents involving students inside and around the Ralphs store. This school year BVH’s Administrative team partnered with Ralphs and established new rules prior to the start of school.
“The main issue is that the parking lot gets full, and the shoppers can’t go in to buy groceries. The bigger issue is that it’s violent. Kids fighting out there, doing inappropriate things and even groups of kids would steal,” BVH Principal Lee Romero said. “[Students] would take candy, food, liquor and vandalize. They take eggs and throw them across the market; take milk cartons, throw them up in the air and let them explode on the ground.”
Obtaining a response from Ralphs’ Management proved difficult. Their response vaguely stated in an email that they “worked with the Principal to establish a relationship with the school to bring awareness to the parents that the shopping center does not allow drop off or pick up in the parking lot.”
At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, Romero and his administrative team spoke to Ralphs regarding the issues and even asked the store to take photos and a video of those students and kick them out. Last year, according to Ralphs’ policy they were not allowed to take photos or videos until the summer was over and when Ralphs could lead a further legislation. They then informed Romero, his Administration and gathered at a meeting to further discuss new rules of the upcoming school year.
“The rule is, students are not allowed to go to Ralph’s before, during or after school [unless accompanied by someone 18 years or older]. More so, if kids are doing something inappropriate where there’s fighting, vandalism, stealing and so forth, [management] is going to send us pictures, and we’ll suspend them,” Romero said. “We’ll use progressive discipline. But, initially if they do anything illegal, [the school] is going to suspend them. If they do it again, we’re going to move them out to go to another school.”
Since the start of the school year, there have been less students getting picked-up, dropped off and entering Ralph’s compared to the previous year. However, there are still students and parents who have disregarded it as BVH Administration tries to emphasize the importance of following the new rule.
“I feel great that the community is supportive and they understand. Because [when] coming here in the morning it’s crowded, I [tell] parents come at eight o’clock when it’s not crowded’,” Romero said. “When we get out, ‘wait 15-20 minutes and the traffic is all gone’. Parents have been complying and I am very happy that they are listening and helping us out.”
As for other businesses across from BVH, they all have BVH administration’s contact information but none have reached out or currently plan to implement the same rules. Romero hopes that the surrounding businesses do not do the same as Ralph’s because most students go over to enjoy having food and drinks. Students like Sound Unlimited Alto Section Leader and senior Vika Thach find it a necessity to enter businesses like Ralphs after school.
“[When I saw the email], I said out loud, ‘what the heck is happening?’ Then soon after, I was like ‘that makes sense, but what’s going to happen with the people who have to go to rehearsal and [pursue] after school activities to get something quick to eat,’” Thach said.
On Monday’s after school from 4:30-7:30, Thach has rehearsal practice for Sound Unlimited. The group only gets a 30 minute break to go eat and come back, so Thach and other members in Sound Unlimited choose places that are quick and easy like Ralphs who have pre-made food like their sushi bar.
“Last week I walked into Ralphs with my mom and aunt because we needed to pick up groceries after school. I walked in and noticed a bunch of high schoolers despite the policy,” Thach said. “What clicked in my mind was that most of the students who [ignore] the rule [were the people who made it be] put it in place were still going in. Everybody who was abiding by the rules were not in Ralphs.”
Similar to Thach’s experience in Ralphs, senior Benito Delgado also explains that he’s noticed the same thing. Delgado has been going into the grocery store since he was in middle school and only recently has Ralphs added additional security and employees who are following the new policy.
“[I am] usually always going in there to buy food, but occasionally I’ll just go in there with my friends because they are going to go,” Delgado said. “We usually like hanging out in the aisles and then we see [employees] staring at us at the end of the aisle. They just look at us just so we know that we are being watched.”
Delgado understands the purpose of the new rule, but he and his friends still decide to go. He further explains that as a result of student’s behavior, Ralphs will continue to lose revenue from all the students that used to purchase items in Ralphs before and after school.
“Banning kids from going in [Ralphs is] probably losing them a lot of money. Also, it disadvantages kids who follow the rules, and who actually need to buy stuff before [or after] school,” Delgado said.
A great majority of BVH students, staff and parents don’t like the new rules. Romero, Thach and Delgado hope that Ralph won’t have to enforce this rule permanently as a result of a small handful of students causing issues.
“Honestly, my hope is that we don’t need to have this ban and that a student can walk across the street, go to Ralph’s, buy something and take it back to school. Because number one, they need our money and we need their products and services,” Romero said. “What I told the store manager in our meeting was that the students here are very nice. I am really proud to say that we have nice students that come to the school, but it’s only a few that make the problems for us.”
Eric Helle • Sep 7, 2023 at 11:30 am
Thank you for covering this, Ms. Garcia. The policy still sounds very vague. According to your report, the policy seems to be centered around parent drop-offs and pick-ups and that no students have actually been prevented from entering the store. Mr. Romero says there is a rule to not enter Ralphs before, during, or after school, but is this a school rule? A store policy? Is it even enforceable? Maybe that’s why the Ralph’s Management was so difficult to reach and why there email response was so vague.