Textbooks, binders, worksheets, handouts, folders, notebooks, graphing calculators, plan books, Spanish dictionaries and pencils fill students’ lives with clutter and chaos. In the past, students at Rocky River High School crammed all these things into backpacks that weigh 25 pounds, would throw them onto their backs and then proceeded down the hallway bumping into others and causing more clutter in the hallways and classrooms than in their lockers. This school year, students have to adapt to a life without a backpack with which to trek across the school. A new rule has been created for the 2008- 2009 school year.

“Backpacks should be used to carry books and materials to and from school, but kept in the locker during the day,” Principal Debra Bernard said. This new policy was created for RRHS to make the school less cluttered and more safe.

“Teachers were talking about how dangerous backpacks were in classes,” Bernard said. The administration then took notice of the congestion and tested to see if it was feasible to go about the day without a backpack. At the end of last year, there was some concern about this new expectation; several students expressed their concern to the administration. However, Bernard did not respond at first.

According to Bernard, she did not reply to the students’ concerns right away “because I wanted them to try not using a backpack and see their reaction.” After the first couple of days of this school year, Bernard spoke to these students and heard their reaction to going through the day without a backpack. Bernard said that they saw the reasoning behind the change.

“When there is a change, students have to get used to it and find out that they can do it,” Bernard said. Although some students have gotten used to the new rule, most students here at RRHS still wish they had their backpacks at their side. In a survey of 100, 91 students said that they do not like the new rule.

“While I have nothing but respect for the administration, [the new rule on backpacks] is utterly absurd. The rule was implemented citing safety reasons, yet has done nothing to improve safety. Children may not be carrying as much weight on their backs, but now they must bear the same weight in their arms, which is far more difficult. Tripping in aisles was rare before, but is now made more likely by sliding piles of loose books.

“Backpacks were never before allowed in lab spaces anyway, so that point is moot. Smaller items like pencils, non-text books, wallets, and calculators are easily dropped or lost, and pencil cases aren’t very easy to hold on to.

If students wish to avoid carrying all of their books and binders in their arms, they must frequently stop at their lockers, which is at best inconvenient and at worst makes students late for class-- plus, a higher volume of traffic in the halls makes transferring them more difficult for everyone, increasing the likelihood of being late,” senior Mary Farah said. Although Farah believes that the hallways and classrooms are still cluttered, science teacher Ann Brokaw disagrees.

“I love it [the backpack rule]! Here’s my deal; I totally road the fence, and I didn’t really care at first. When we voted, I didn’t vote; I have a big room. Now, that being said, the difference it makes—not tripping, the lab work-- is great. It feels safer. I can’t imagine in a small room what the difference feels like,” Brokaw said. Many students are aware that Brokaw has a very large room, yet she still feels a great difference in her classroom.

“I think just from moving around the individual classroom the school’s safer,” Brokaw said.

The high school is not the first school in the Rocky River School District to get rid of backpacks; Rocky River Middle School used to allow their students to carry them around. Approximately 10 years ago, RRMS decided to reverse the rule.

“[We used to allow backpacks] at the old building, but as the student population got bigger and the school became more crowded, having backpacks became more cumbersome,” RRMS Principal Dr. David Root said. According to Root, a girl also tripped over a backpack and broke her arm. He also said there was some backlash to the change at first, similar to the reaction at RRHS.

“At the old building, the lockers were six inches wide and you couldn’t put anything in them, but a box of spaghetti,” Dr. Root said. As many know, RRMS was rebuilt in 2000. With the new building, students had access to more spacious lockers and the need for a backpack in school became a thing of the past. According to Dr. Root, students rarely complain about not having backpacks during school. Bernard hopes that the same cooling affect occurs here.