SUFFOLK, Va. — Clear backpacks are going into the hands of some middle and high school students in Suffolk.
“I think it’s a good thing," said parent Betty Ruffin.
"So you can see what the kids are bringing to school.”
Betty Ruffin said her high school student will pick one up Monday morning. She thinks having students wear clear backpacks to school is a step in the right direction.
"For the protection of them and other kids,” she said.
The announcement came last week with school division leaders saying that middle and high school students could get a clear bag on a voluntary basis starting October 23.
Suffolk School Superintendent Dr. John Gordon said this is an additional layer of safety, along with security and metal detector checks.
However, some of these preliminary checks take large amounts of time.
“We just want to make sure that student achievement is going to be one of our top priorities. So when you’re losing 30 to 45 minutes for a safety check, we wanted to find ways to be more efficient with it.”
After multiple conversations and meetings with school division leaders, Gordon says the division purchased roughly 5,000 bags.
He said that many school leaders believe their students will pick up a bag.
Though, he said there’s not much research that shows clear bookbags will cut down the rate of any security or safety issues.
“But when you partner that with increased security checks, when you partner that with some of the other things that we are doing, then it does have a multiplier effect,” he explained.
He said that school officials are looking for anything that shouldn't be on school property. Hopefully, these clear bags will make students think twice.
"You want to do whatever you can so that people can think twice or three times about making that poor choice," he said.
"And this clear bookbag is going to be a detractor to that. We just think that's going to be another positive for the school system as well as to make sure the kids are actually feeling safe."
Gordon said he plans to keep the initiative on a voluntary basis. He said this is a pilot program, and school division leaders will have some data to evaluate towards the end of the year before making any permanent changes.
He also said he thought about offering the clear bags at the beginning of the year, but he wanted to make sure things were off to a good start before adding the new safety initiative.
There’s no plan to present this option to elementary students in Suffolk Public Schools at this time.