On the morning of Monday, Dec. 18, during third period, Principal Kenneth DeMoss announced that on Friday, Jan. 12, the first day of the second semester, students will no longer be allowed to carry backpacks during the day. On Tuesday, Dec. 19, students received their locker numbers and combinations to aid in the transition. Though it was a sudden announcement, DeMoss said he put thought into the decision.
“Number one, I didn’t want to wait until the eight days when we got back, I wanted to give students more time to work through the kinks of it,” said DeMoss. “Plus, if they (students) want to find an alternative way to carry their stuff, it’s the best time of year for getting new stuff.”
Teachers held a meeting on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 21 to discuss what kinds of bags will and will not be allowed, as well as decisions on expectations. DeMoss believes that small purses will be permitted but is doubtful anything larger will be. The punishment for students who don’t abide by the expectations will vary by the situation and their compliance.
“What I should’ve probably said is it isn’t a new backpack policy, we’re just going back to the old backpack rule,” said DeMoss. “I would say that 90% of schools don’t allow regular backpacks.”
DeMoss said the rule was meant to be implemented two years ago but, with COVID-19, lockers were considered a safety issue. Then, WVEIS 2.0, a new state online system, allowed lockers to be assigned online rather than by hand. After the school worked through delays in the new online system, lockers were assigned to all students in the fall.
According to DeMoss, the main goal of implementing the policy is to ensure safety in the building, giving less space for students to carry illegal substances and items with them. DeMoss believes that without the backpacks serving as another thing that has to be checked, there will be more ability to focus on the students themselves rather than having to take time to search backpacks. Lockers will be checked with reasonable suspicion.
“Bottom line is it’s about safety issues,” said DeMoss. “No amount of inconvenience will trump safety.”
The time between classes will not change from the current five minutes already given. According to DeMoss, students should only need to go to their lockers twice, once at the start of the day to drop their backpacks off and get their items for morning classes, and once more during lunch to get their things for afternoon classes.
Read Liliana Parsons’ opinion on the backpack policy here.
