Michigan School District Bans All Backpacks—Even Clear Ones—Over Weapon Concerns

Backpacks will no longer be allowed at Flint Community Schools buildings after two incidents caused the district’s high school to close for two days in April.

The Flint Board of Education voted unanimously to ban backpacks districtwide during a special meeting on Tuesday, April 25, after two separate safety incidents that caused Southwestern Classical Academy to close for two days last week.

The new districtwide policy will go into effect immediately and stay in place until the end of the academic year.

Recommended by administrators, the policy will alleviate several safety concerns within district buildings.

Each building will no longer have to worry about a weapon being brought in through a backpack, school leaders told the board.

Ernest Steward, director of Students Services & Title IX Coordinator, told board members that nothing that students are bringing to school in their backpacks has anything to do with classwork.

“That is just one incident of several that we have had this year around students bringing weapons into our buildings in backpacks,” Steward said. “... Eliminating the backpacks, at least for the remainder of this school year, will reduce some of those incidents.”

Accommodations for athletes and students who must bring health care products to school will be made accordingly in each building, Superintendent Kevelin Jones said.

A similar request was made by Flint schools administration in February, which ended up being voted down by the board for several reasons.

Jones suggested changing the policy to only allow clear backpacks after board discussions earlier this year – a move that would serve as an added layer of security.

“This is just another preventative measure,” Jones said. “I don’t think that any of the measures we have in place … is foolproof.”

This isn’t the first time the district has banned backpacks, either. When Steward started in 2007, students were not allowed to have backpacks in the building.

That policy was made in response to incidents in the community and was well received, Accelerated Learning Academy Principal Kelly Fields told the board.

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/20...-of-academic-year-due-to-safety-concerns.html