At the beginning of this new school year, it was announced that a couple of new policies would be put in place and that a few pre-existing ones would be reinforced. The two new policies are: 1. If you have three unexcused tardies, you are given an absence and if you are absent from a class fourteen times, you are dropped a letter grade. School field trips don’t count towards, but every other absence, excused or unexcused, does. 2. Backpacks are to remain in students’ lockers and can’t be taken into classrooms. During the pandemic, when lockers were not available for students to use, it was the custom for students to take their backpacks with them throughout the entire day.
How did we get to these new policies in the first place? The attendance policy was issued due to, unsurprisingly, attendance issues. Attendance has been going down in schools throughout the country. These have been seen in CA as well. In an effort to combat this, the attendance policy was put in place.
According to general staff, the backpack policy was put in place because of safety. Through recent years, school shootings and accidents have been on a rise. Fire safety has also been brought up in the conversation, citing that backpacks spread through classrooms are often tripping hazards in the event of a fire.
In a school-wide survey on the policies, we got 63 responses. Concerning the new locker policy: 34.9% (22) dislike it,
38.1% (24) strongly dislike it,
23.8% (15) remained neutral,
03.2% (2) somewhat like it,
0.00% (0) strongly like it.
Similarly concerning the new attendance policy:
30.2% (19) dislike it,
31.7% (20) strongly dislike it,
23.8% (15) remained neutral,
11.1% (7) somewhat like it,
03.2% (2) Completely like it.
In the same survey, students expressed their thoughts and concerns regarding these policies. Concerning the locker policy, the main complaints from students are inconvenience, annoyance, and inefficiency. Students’ lockers are located throughout both CA buildings, but are mainly located in the back of each building. It is inconvenient to walk all the way to another building across the school to get the supplies needed for each class. On top of all of this, the hallways get very crowded during the 5 minute passing period, and three unexcused tardies are made into absences.
One sophomore expressed frustration with the policy, noting: “I think it’s silly that we have to go back and forth to lockers and class when they are on opposite sides of the school and if we don’t make it on time we get severely punished if we are late. If you want people to come on time don’t try to make me late. These new policies don’t make me feel safer with the backpacks gone, it only makes my life harder.”
Although most responses were negative, some students understand the reasoning behind these changes.
“I don’t think it should be revoked because I understand the security issues but it sucks… I understand why they did it and I think it’s a good safety measure so I’ll live with it.” So says another survey response.
“So this backpack is nothing new to the school, but it’s new to… students since Covid,” says Principal Crawford. “Before Covid, we did that, so we just went back to the whole safety factor and also the clogging of the classrooms…but the number one objective is safety for our students, safety for the staff, safety for the whole school.”
Another concern being shared about the backpack rule is that of access to female hygiene products. Rebecca Walwyn noted in an interview, “If I need to go get a [feminine hygiene product] and my locker is all the way across the school building, you best believe that can take me triple the time. I’m not going to sit there and carry [it] in my hand…Forget going between classes, because the lines are so long…if you have an emergency…it just takes so much longer, and then you’re tardy for class.” A solution being proposed is increasing the amount of time between classes from five minutes to seven.
To this Mr. Crawford said, “I think it’s being more strategic. How you use your locker. You don’t need to carry all your books all day, but you should probably have two two periods on you at any one time. So if you came first, you know first thing in the morning, you have first and second, then you can go to your locker. You don’t have to go to your locker between first and second. Then you go to chapel. Then after chapel, you get your new stuff for third and fourth, then you have lunch, and then fifth and sixth, and then maybe carry seventh with you, but there’s plenty of time. You gotta also cut down on socializing in the halls.”
While these concerns have been brought to attention, a common ground held between students is that if the backpack and attendance policies will stay, more time should be given in between periods or teachers should be more lenient with students when it comes to stepping out of the classroom to get needed things. Currently students may arrive on time to their classes yet come unprepared or without having taken care of issues, which can cut down on instructional time.
As with any new policy, there’s an adjustment period, so it remains to be seen how staff and students will fully adjust throughout the year.
