Rockdale district buys 16,500 clear backpacks in student safety effort
Rockdale County Public Schools announced Friday that the district will require students to carry clear backpacks starting the next school year.
The school board approved the purchase of 16,500 clear backpacks Thursday and will be distribute them to students.
“This is just another safety measure in our comprehensive plan to increase safety in all of our schools,” said Superintendent Terry Oatts in a statement released on the district’s Facebook page. “We have increased security and protection in recent years by installing security hallways in all schools.”
The school district has also increased the number of specialists in prevention and intervention in schools, Oatts said.
Camera systems in classrooms are also planned, according to the statement. Other safety measures include the review of the district’s disciplinary code of conduct.
“We understand that transparent backpacks will not frustrate all threats to safety,” Oatts said. “However, they may be an obstacle to students bringing inappropriate items to school.”
The district will release more details about the use of transparent backpacks and their distribution in the coming weeks.
Clear bag policies have become more common at music festivals, sporting events and other large gatherings. Mercedes-Benz Stadium requires clear bags, and Atlanta Public Schools has a similar policy for spectators at its athletic venues.
Districts have turned to clear backpacks as a safety measure since the 1990s, but the policies have often met opposition from families, safety experts and students.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, protested the implementation of clear backpacks after the 2018 mass shooting at their school, arguing the bags infringed on privacy without making the school safer.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, one of the largest districts in the country, spent $440,000 on clear backpacks as part of a larger school safety plan. However, the backpack plan is on hold.
The Charlotte Observer reported the district halted distribution of the backpacks after officials found that most of the items had a warning label about the possible presence of cancer-causing chemicals. The label was the result of a requirement for items that are also sold in California, which has a state law that manufacturers must have a label on products that use certain chemicals.
About the Authors
Liset Cruz is an intern for Atlanta Now. She is a senior at the University of Georgia majoring in journalism and sociology with minors in Latinx studies and human services. She aspires to become an investigative reporter and cover politics, crime, immigration and civil rights.
Josh Reyes covers Gwinnett County Public Schools for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A native of Virginia, he wrote about local government and public safety at the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot. He graduated from Christopher Newport University with a B.A. in English.
