Imagine being told that women were no longer allowed to carry puses because there isn't enough room. Well, while talking to my daughter on the first day of school, she stated that the school doesn't allow you to carry your book bag around from class to class. Here are some scenarios
1. Your teenage daughter has her period. She's crampy and bloated and feels terrible. The bell rings, she head to the bathroom to handle business, then realizes... she doesn't have a tampon or pad because her bookbag is in her locker. So she hurries up, while watching her watch and heads to her locker, gets her bag, heads back to the bathroom, finishes what needed to be done and then... the bell rings. She is already late... she heads to her next class, goes to enter and the teacher confronts her. Why are you late? She stares, petrified to answer, knowing that if she just says i had to use the bathroom that the teacher may say it's unaccpetable, come to class first, get a pass the go tot the bathroom...
2. Your son is on the third floor for class. The bells rings and he needs his science book for next period. His locker is on the first floor. He hurries there, gets what he needs, and dashes back up to the third floor for his science class. The bell rings mid trip... he now is tardy. Ontop of being tardy, he has also dropped his pen because another rushing kid bumped him in the hall and he didn't realize that his pen falls. He enters the classroom and the teacher confronts him, he explains... he sits, goes to get his pen and it's gone. Now he has to ask an already annoyed teacher for a supply that he should have had on him to begin with.
Now, you may say each of these scenarios are advoidable and they are but the bottom line is our children are already stressed enough about school and social life. This is an un-neccessary stressor for them. Being able to carry one bag with the majority of your supplies will cut out some of that stress so that our kids can be more focused on what's important.
Highland Central School District is not an inner city district! Let's not treat like it is.
