
A Michigan faculty district has banned all backpacks from faculty buildings in response to rising security issues.
Flint Neighborhood Faculties introduced final week that backpacks could be banned and the ban would final for the rest of the college yr. The brand new coverage went into impact on Monday.
“We’re doing every thing we are able to to offer a secure atmosphere for our college students, households, academics and workers,” Superintendent Kevin Jones wrote in a letter posted on the college district’s web site.
Jones cited growing threatening conduct throughout the nation, together with weapons being introduced to colleges, as the explanation for the backpacking ban.
“Backpacks make it simpler for college students to cover weapons which may be disassembled and more durable to determine, or hidden in pockets, in books, or beneath different objects,” he stated.

Rear view of scholars strolling on a faculty campus.
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Photographs
After the Robb Elementary College taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas, final Could that killed 19 college students and two academics, colleges started implementing insurance policies requiring college students to make use of clear backpacks. Nevertheless, Flint Neighborhood Faculties have gone a step additional and banned clear backpacks from faculty buildings, with the superintendent saying that doesn’t resolve the issue.
“By fully banning backpacks and including an elevated safety presence throughout the district, we are able to higher management what’s introduced into our buildings,” Jones stated.
College students are allowed to maintain private objects equivalent to wallets, keys, toiletries and telephones in small purses, convey lunch containers or put their gymnasium garments in clear plastic luggage, all of which might be searched.
In response to Jones, if a scholar brings a backpack to highschool, dad and mom or guardians should acquire it from faculty.
The Flint Board of Training, the county board and faculty principals authorized the coverage change, Jones stated, including that the county has obtained help from the Flint Police Division.
“We’ve got thought lengthy and exhausting about this determination, understanding it can affect how college students and households put together for his or her days and surgical procedures within the classroom,” Jones stated. “Nevertheless, as a result of points we proceed to see across the nation relating to faculty security, we consider that is the most effective answer for these we serve.”