Washington: Middle and high school students in Dallas will soon be required to carry clear or mesh backpacks – a districtwide response to the massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
The Dallas Independent School District announced on Monday that it will be implementing the new policy in the fall, joining a handful of other districts in Texas that have adopted similar safety measures.
A memorial outside the Robb Elementary School in Texas where a lone gunmen killed 21 students and teachers.Credit:AP
The district said it has taken several steps “to ensure schools are safe learning environments.”
“We acknowledge that clear or mesh backpacks alone will not eliminate safety concerns. This is merely one of several steps in the district’s comprehensive plan to better ensure student and staff safety,” the district said in a statement.
The district said starting in the 2022-2023 school year, sixth- through 12th-grade students will no longer be allowed to carry backpacks that are not clear or mesh. But students can have a small nontransparent pouch – no larger than 14 by 22 centimetres – to conceal personal items like cash or feminine hygiene products.
Transparent bags will allow campus personnel to see inside, ensuring students are not bringing prohibited items into school and making school entry more efficient, although students may still be subject to searches, the district said.
Texas schools are switching to clear plastic backpacks in the wake of the Uvalde mass shooting.Credit:AP
The district will provide backpacks for students before the start of the new school year.
Since the Uvalde massacre in May, several Texas school districts have announced plans requiring students to use transparent backpacks.
Last month, Harper Independent School District (ISD), about 170 kilometres from Uvalde, became one of the first to announce that “in light of the recent school shooting, and in an effort to do everything we can to increase safety for our students and staff,” it was implementing a clear-backpack policy for students.
The state’s Greenville ISD, Ingleside ISD, Southside ISD and Seguin ISD have done the same – some applying the policy to all students and others applying it only to those in secondary school. And there some exceptions, depending on the district. Seguin ISD, for instance, said students involved in extracurricular activities such as athletics or band may use nontransparent bags to carry equipment but must store those bags in designated areas upon arrival.
Officials with Dallas ISD said the decision was made based partly on feedback from students and parents.
Transparent book bags are not a new idea. After the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, district officials temporarily required students to carry clear backpacks – an unpopular rule with many students, one of whom called it an “invasion of privacy”.
“Clear backpacks don’t do anything except make us look stupid,” Carly Novell, who was a senior at Stoneman Douglas, wrote in a tweet at the time. “We want to be safe, not uncomfortable. The only thing that can really have an impact on our safety is gun control.”
Stoneman Douglas ultimately pivoted to alternative security measures, including the use of metal detectors.
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