Survivors Of The Parkland School Shooting Will Now Be Required To Wear Clear Backpacks

22 March 2018, 15:02

Clear backpack
Picture: Getty/HECTOR GUERRER
Nicky Idika

By Nicky Idika

All student backpacks will need to be transparent at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida are still re-adjusting to their return to campus following a devastating mass shooting that claimed the lives of 17 students and staff.

Weeks after the tragic events of February 14th, reports indicate that Superintendent of Broward County schools, Robert W. Runcie, has announced that MSD students will be required to carry clear backpacks while on school property.

Clear backpack
Students would carry their materials in see-through backpacks like these. Picture: Eastpack Backpacks

Presumably, mandating clear backpacks would help to ensure that weapons could not be carried onto campus or concealed inside bags. Students who do not have a clear backpack will be given one. Students will also be required to wear visible identification badges while on campus.

The New York Times reports that two MSD students were charged with carrying knives last week while the brother of the gunman (Nikolas Cruz) was recently arrested for trespassing on school grounds.

Since the shooting, student survivors and many of their parents have passionately argued for gun control legislation that would ban the type of weapon used in the massacre.

However, some of those students are not convinced that the new clear backpack policy addresses the problem of lax gun laws.

The new policy is set to go into effect after Spring Break. School officials are also looking at modifying entry points and increasing surveillance in the coming months.

Meanwhile, student activists from the school have started a national movement in March For Our Lives. The group will march on Washington Saturday, March 24.