Re: middle school no lockers

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@TENET.EDU>]

On Thu, 20 Jan 1994, OLGA ERBE wrote:

> Is there anybody out there working in a middle school that doesnot use lockers
 ?
> Was this a choice implemented after years of using them or because financially
> couldn't afford?  What are the pros and cons?  Does it save on the wear and

My niece attended a school several years ago that still had lockers but
students had restricted use.  They were allowed to go to their lockers
before school (when they picked up all morning materials), at noon (where
they exchanged for afternoon materials), and after school.  (She didn't
stay there long.)

I *think* the purpose (sad to say) was to keep theft and exchange of
contraband at a minimum.  Perhaps the officials felt that monitoring the
locker area would be easier if teachers could concentrate their time in
particular high population areas during "locker" time.

I also read in a newspaper a year or so ago that a school in another state
in a high crime area removed all lockers, issued "home" sets of textbooks
and had class sets of textbooks.  The purpose according to the article was
so that students walking home through gang infested neighborhoods would
not be harrassed for carrying books home to do homework (the syndrome of
not allowing peers to climb out of the cycle of defeated attitudes).  The
article also said that by removing lockers and eliminating the need for
book bags officials felt "pushers" would be less likely to recruit
students for drug sales.

What a sad state of affairs!  Fortuntely, neither school is in my region.

                            bhamilt@tenet.edu
Betty Hamilton, LRS             .----.
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