Why did Denny Middle School have lockers….

[kootchman]

Bet an e-reader is a heck of a lot cheaper than texts. It’s crazy, all those textbooks are digitized now… isn’t that what we have a school administration for? Negotiating prices? And… if the little darlings lose em’… keeps their hands free for self defense too. I wouldn’t know how damaging it is… I was pretty much text book free in HS…. I always turned them in in great condition though… unused, unmarred, pristine.

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[westcoastdeb]

I remember going to middle school and still lugging around 40-ish pounds of books, even with access to a locker. There just wasn’t time to use it and it was out of the way. When it came down to the end of the day, when I had to take most of my books home with me anyway (for that elusive homework), there was the way too heavy bookbag. I think there should be a solution here, lockers will help, but until we do go the digital route kids will always be carrying too much weight.

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[luckymom30]

If Jeff Clark knew he wasn’t going to allow them to use the lockers then why did we pay for them to be installed? I suppose other area middle schools allow the use of lockers or is Denny the exception?

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[hoffanimal]

I asked my son about this (he is a Denny student) as neutrally as I could and he said he wished they had lockers but it is not a big deal. He said there probably isn’t enough time between classes to use the lockers anyway. Of course this begs the question – why did they design the school with lockers in the first place?

Personally, this is a non-issue for me. The distances they have to carry the backpacks are minimal. We like to go backpacking with our kids and this is good training! I guess I could see an argument if kids are walking home, but aren’t they brining home books for homework anyway? Let’s suck it up. Seriously, there are some big issues Seattle schools need to deal with, but this isn’t one of them.

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[365Stairs]

Would it be totally un-cool for kids to use rolling packs? Isn’t there a dual back and roller available in the market? If there isn’t…well…there is someones next $million$.

See..datamuse…I care…

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[Gina]

I see Lafayette kids with rolling packs getting off the busses and walking down the sidewalks. Some of the kids drag the backpacks by a strap, I swear that the packs equal at least 50% of the body weight of the smaller children.

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[hopey]

If lockers are a “fire and safety code violation” why are they used at other middle schools? Students at Washington Middle School in the CD use the lockers installed in every hallway.

What a crock. If it’s a “fire and safety code violation” for one school, then it’s a violation for ALL schools, and locker use should cease immediately in every school that has them.

I wonder if there is something peculiar to Denny’s construction — perhaps the hallways were not built wide enough for lockers to be “safe”? That’s the only plausible explanation I can think of for the discrepancy.

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[GenHillOne]

Denny hasn’t used their lockers for years, even in the old building. It was a choice. IIRC from the explanation nearly 7 years ago, it first came out of even earlier security concerns (that thankfully are not a primary factor now). Again, I’m shaking the cobwebs out a bit, but I think they found that eliminating the locker stops had other effects, like less lollygagging between classes and quieter halls, which gave them options for staggered bells with fewer kids in the halls at one time. This seems to fit with what Que said. As far as I know, accommodations are made for Band & PE (& Art maybe?) students with their extra stuff.

The flip side is that Madison students aren’t allowed to carry backpacks around, so they either carry everything loose in their arms or go to their lockers constantly; just a different style. Both with pros and cons. I don’t know what other Seattle middle schools do.

I suspect that the lockers were installed for future flexibility. Perhaps it would be more expensive to add them later if they wanted them. I’m quite sure the hallways were built to fire code.

To me, it’s just not a big deal and it was never an issue for us.

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