The other day my wife had an appointment at the local college for a meeting with her instructor. My son had just gotten his learner's permit so we all went to the campus and I dropped my wife off. I then took my son to a very empty area of the parking lot, near the football field, to give him a driving lesson while my wife was in her meeting. About 15 to 20 minutes into the lesson we were stopped and standing outside the car. We were discussing how he was doing so far and what the next exersise would be. I notice a marked campus police truck driving through the area. I flagged down the officer to let him know what we are doing, since if I saw someone driving in circles in my area of patrol I would investigate it, and I figured I could save him the trouble. The officer was very polite but informed me that my son could not drive on the campus. I informed him again that my son had his learner's permit, I had a DL and that everything was legal. He never asked to see any documents. He said it was a matter of school policy. Apparently a while back a student driver hit a light pole in the parking lot and so the administration had banned student drivers on campus. The officer continued by stating that he agreed that it was a stupid policy but it is his job to enforce it. I have been in similar situations myself, so I didn't give him a hard time. We did continue to chat. Eventually he said that he would forget that we had talked and that he would go patrol the other end of the campus, but he couldn't say what any other officers would do. I did not at any time tell him what I do for a living or ask or even hint that he should go against policy. I continued the driving lesson for another half hour or so, until my wife finished her appointment. We did see a couple of other patrol cars come through the area, but neither stopped us.
My question is: Does a Community College, in California, have the authority to impose such a rule? If it were a private school, I would agree that they have the authority, but I don't believe that what is, in effect, a publicly owned facility has this authority. I can see if it was stated that since niether of us attend the school or are employed by the school we shouldn't be there. The issue was that my son is a student driver who has a learner's permit, issued by the state, and is perfectly legal to drive if he is with a licensed driver age 25 or older (me).
My question is: Does a Community College, in California, have the authority to impose such a rule? If it were a private school, I would agree that they have the authority, but I don't believe that what is, in effect, a publicly owned facility has this authority. I can see if it was stated that since niether of us attend the school or are employed by the school we shouldn't be there. The issue was that my son is a student driver who has a learner's permit, issued by the state, and is perfectly legal to drive if he is with a licensed driver age 25 or older (me).
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