Has Scanning Gone Too Far?
“Is that your book bag?” Coach Kelly asked. The student looked down at her non-clear/mesh backpack and said it was. Kelley gave the student a warning – and told them that if they didn’t have a clear or mesh backpack by Monday they receive a write up.
But why do we have to carry a clear or mesh backpack? And why is it automatically assumed by security and other people in the administration that a big purse is like carrying a backpack?
The first problem with scans – the way we see it - is the fact that each student has to carry a clear or mesh backpack. Clear and mesh backpacks are made of the cheapest material. Clear backpacks become dirty easily and all of a person’s belongings can be seen. Mesh backpacks are no better. The backpack can tear causing important things, such as pencils and other small items, to fall out; and when it rains, those homework papers that you spent hours on become wet while you wait for the school bus to arrive. Students have to carry backpacks around school for obvious reasons – but the clear and mesh ones make it easier for security to see the contents of a student’s backpack.
Other bags that are not backpacks have been mistaken for backpacks. Many girls at school have been stopped by security for carrying big purses. Jerome Sims said, “If there are books inside of it, then it is considered a backpack, but if there are no books inside of the bag is when it is considered a purse.”
Still purses are mistaken for backpacks everyday. Hannah Blackburn-Parish, a sophomore, said she had problems with the administration over her purse.
“Coach Kelley told me that my big purse was a backpack and it wasn’t see through,” Blackburn-Parish said.
Security has also decided to start confiscating athletic bags that are not made of clear or mesh material.
Many students were upset during the grade level assemblies when they found out that security guards will start scanning at least three times a week.
“I don’t think we should be scanned that much. They should trust us, even if they know that some of us are going to try to get around [the rules] anyway,” said Melissa Rhea, a junior.
Sims said, “Since I am the new supervisor of security that means that I have to make sure that students are scanned at least three times a week. This policy is nothing new. The reason why it is being strongly enforced this year is because if three scans a week are not done then I get in trouble for not doing my job.”
Beside the usual things that are confiscated during scans, such as cell phones and MP3 players - whiteout is has been added to the list - because students are sniffing and smoking it. If whiteout is being taken away, then what about taking away permanent markers, glue, paint, and other toxic items that we bring to school because we need them for a class? This is ridiculous, I mean umm, hey, if we want to get high, we can go out in the parking lot and sniff our gas tanks, right? We’re patriots, yet we’re treated like those thugs from McClellan.
The way that students are punished for carrying cell phones and other electronic devices has changed this year as well. A student who has to go to their vice-principal’s office for the crime of carrying a cell phone goes through the following procedure: 1) Write their name on a cell phone documentation sheet; 2) a copy of the cell phone policy has to be signed by the student’s parent. This if for the first offense. If a student is caught the second time, they go to detention and a parent conference is held. The third time that a student is caught with a cell phone they receive four days of detention. The fourth offense results in the suspension of the student.
Even though the scanning policy is nothing new, many of the new things that the administration are doing makes it seem as though they do not trust the students. School may have just started a month ago but so many students have gotten into trouble for stupid reason: big purses, non clear/mesh athletic bags, and whiteout.
The students who bring their drugs, guns, and knives to school have caused the student body to lose certain freedoms.
Most students are being treated like terrorists; school is becoming more like an airport screening test.
Blackburn-Parish said she was worried about the new policy, “I don’t like the whole scanning three times a week. I want to know what they’re looking for and what happened to make them search us so much. It’s not like we’re going to bring a bazooka to school.”