Surge in guns prompts school leaders to consider requiring clear backpacks

By Rebekka Schramm

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    JONESBORO, Georgia (WGCL) — Clayton County Public Schools, the state’s fifth largest school district, is considering requiring clear backpacks when students return to class in the fall to help combat a recent surge in weapons violations on school campuses.

The clear bags would be required for students in grades 3 through 12.

The proposal comes after school district leaders banned backpacks altogether during the final weeks of the school year.

At a school board meeting this week, a security official told board members the district had 97 weapons violations on Clayton County school campuses during the last school year.

Connie Fowler, mother of a 7th grade student in the district, doesn’t think a clear backpack requirement would do much to stop a student from bringing a banned item to school.

“If students want to bring drugs or weapons into school, they’re going to do it no matter what,” said Fowler.

She also worries about student privacy.

“You have these little girls who have their feminine products, and they don’t want to show it off to all these boys,” she said.

Attania Jean-Funny is a teacher whose two children attend a charter school in the district. She likes the idea of clear backpacks.

“It is one thing that could help,” she said, adding that other security measures might also need to be implemented. “Unfortunately, this is the time that we live in. We still may have to do metal detectors in schools.”

The Clayton County school board likely will vote on the issue this summer.

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