Pleasant Valley has recently introduced a new rule regarding backpacks. Instead of using clear or mesh backpacks like last year, students are no longer allowed to carry any form of a bag from class to class. Chad Weipert, the deputy at Pleasant Valley, stated that “students are allowed to bring their backpacks into the building and then go straight to their locker and then when school is out they can go straight out of the building.”

Weipert also added, “we used to have the [no backpack] rule and then it was eased out, and then we went to clear backpacks but the enforcement of that was pretty hard because there’s discretion involved in that.” the main reason that students are seeing the switch to no backpacks is because they weren’t following the clear backpack rule.

Weipert “also looked at other things that were happening to other schools, and when the shooting at Columbine happened everyone went to no backpacks.” This decision in the past influenced the decision to go back to no back packs

Weipert  talked to other deputies in the district about their policies noticing they had no backpacks, and he stated, “It seemed like the consensus was that [other schools] believed it helped to stop the introduction of weapons and drugs and other things students shouldn’t have in the building.” Talking to other deputies who have the backpack ban in place and talking to ones who didn’t allowed Weipert to weigh the pros and cons which ultimately helped him make his decision.

Few students at Pleasant Valley have wondered why all of the sudden the school decided to ban the mesh and clear bags. Mike Zimmer, the principal at Pleasant Valley stated that “the no backpack rule is actually an old rule that was in place from August, 1999 (implemented after the April 20, 1999 Columbine School Shooting) through May, 2010.” Which is originally why students weren’t allowed to have backpacks at all.

Then, during the 2009-10 school year, Zimmer noticed students were struggling to carry laptop computers, notebooks and textbooks, and knowing the premise of the “no backpack rule” was to prevent students from carrying a gun into school inside a backpack, he proposed the clear or mesh pack option to assist students carrying their supplies and still allow content visibility.

However Zimmer noted that “since 2010, few if any, students are carrying a laptop as they use their smartphone and fewer teachers are issuing a textbook because they either do not use one or it is online. In the meantime, school shootings/bomb threats have used backpacks for ammunition and other bomb making materials. The combination of fewer school items to carry and the use of backpacks (mesh or otherwise) to carry an array of nefarious items have led to reinstituting the ban.”

Another pro that Weipert added regarding the no backpack rule was that “It’s pretty easy to enforce a no backpack policy, it’s hard to enforce the mesh bag policy. People could also hide things between their books. Now a lot of things are electronic so the concern about kids having too much to carry from class to class isn’t as much of an issue.”

Besides enforcing the backpack ban, Pleasant Valley has also taken other steps to ensure that the high school is a safe place; these steps include having “a secured facility, ALICE training, lock down drills, investing resource money, anonymous reporting app, lock down button, and having a SRO” according to Weipert.

Zimmer added that “discipline dispositions can range from detentions to out-of-school suspension (repeat offenders). However, compliance has been excellent and much appreciated as we continue to make PVHS safe for everyone.”