As the school year progresses, the school policy of restricting the use of backpacks in the classroom has had time to take effect. Every day, the students of Logansport High School place their backpacks in their lockers before school starts and pick them back up at the end of the day. While this is a return to a past policy, some say this is an act to stifle the future.
Sophomore Yoslen Robaina-Santana created a challenge to the current policy. In the petition Bring Back Backpacks, Santana stirred a new debate in LHS: Should it bring back the backpacks?
“I was writing this up and was like, nobody’s going to see this, right?” Robaina-Santana said. “So, it got up to five signatures on the first day.”
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 185 into law in 2024, banning cell phones from the classrooms. This bill, however, does not include any stipulations on backpacks in the classrooms.
“The bill simply says, create a policy that has to do with your wireless communication devices,” Robaina-Santana said. “It never specified what that policy had to do. I think most schools have gone no backpacks.”
One concern for allowing backpacks in the classroom is the possibility of bringing dangerous weapons into the school. Senior Jennifer Anaya-Serrano, co-organizer of the petition, uses her backpacks for basic necessities.
“I carry around all of my heavy notebooks, pencils, my chapstick, my lotion, literally anything I need,” Anaya-Serrano said. “The only reason why people think that backpacks are as dangerous as they seemingly are is because we don’t pass gun control laws. That’s it.”
As of the publication of this article, Robaina-Santana’s petition to change the school’s no-backpack policy has 300 signatures. However, it is unknown if the school board will listen.
“I think that will be up to the organizers of the petition,” sophomore Cesar Martin-Acosta said. “If they are able to get a certain amount of signatures along with some students to represent this petition at a school board meeting, then possibly they will listen. Odds are they won’t be able to, as our school has shown in times in the past.”
Anaya-Serrano and Robaina-Santana sat down with LHS administrators to discuss the policy. According to Robaina-Santana, they were very good at listening to them.
“They kind of gave us the room,” Robaina-Santana said. “Obviously, we disagreed on a lot of things, but they were still open to the idea. Maybe new lockers, maybe placing them better for seniors and all that kind of stuff. So, I do think that they have listened. They told us that they couldn’t make any changes until next year when it comes to handbook policy. So, I do think that they have been listening.”
For Anaya-Serrano, the meeting was a different story.
“It seems that they are, I don’t want to say, stuck in their ways, but they aren’t exactly forthcoming when it comes to changing their opinion on backpacks,” Anaya-Serrano said. “There are a bunch of good stuff that comes with it. For example, the main one that I believe they talked about was the amount of vapes that were confiscated. They went down majorly, and I’m all for that in all legitimacy. But, I don’t think that is a good enough reason to completely ban backpacks.”
Principal Matt Jones said that the administration is always open to hearing student feedback. The decision to change the policy was because of safety concerns in the classroom.
“Prohibiting backpacks in classrooms is a positive measure for school safety overall,” Jones said. “New state-mandated legislation limiting cell phone usage on campus complements the backpack policy. It would be easier and more tempting to conceal cell phones and other potential contraband, such as vapes, in backpacks. Backpacks in classrooms have always been problematic; they are often large and bulky, cluttering classrooms and desk areas.”
Some students find this policy a hindrance to their educational experience, missing out on class time.
“I don’t want to have to deal with that,” Anaya-Serrano said. “I don’t think anyone does. I have seen teachers actually get annoyed because of the amount of times students have asked to go to their lockers because they have forgotten something.”
There is a possible appetite for change, and the petition is calling for students to question the school’s policy. Robaina-Santana is calling for more students to sign this petition.
“It’s a way of saying that we’re not okay with this, and we want some sort of change,” Robaina-Santana said. “If they won’t give us the backpacks back, at least acknowledge that these lockers aren’t working and that these students are being late. They should be putting in their minds that they have a voice that matters.”
