When Clark first opened in 1998, the founders of the school decided to not install lockers due to the problems they had seen with lockers in other high schools. The administration agreed to keep it this way since they thought that the “block-schedule” would prevent students from having to carry heavy loads of books, therefore making lockers unnecessary.

Yet many students, myself included, oppose this idea since most students still have to carry heavy books throughout the day and can find other ways in which lockers would be useful. 

Over the years, the number of teens complaining about back pain due to their backpacks has increased significantly. According to Dr. Bautch from the American Chiropractic Association, the back pain that students are going through isn’t surprising, considering that most are carrying “disproportionate amounts of weight” in their backpacks, which are usually slung over one shoulder.

Studies that have been conducted in France show that the longer a student wears a backpack, the longer it takes for the curvature of the spine to go back to its original form. Dr. Bautch says that these studies are especially important now that many schools have removed or not considered having lockers, such as Clark. 

These problems can be prevented at school if students had a small storage space to stack their books in and take them out only when necessary, rather than having to carry them throughout the school day. 

Lockers are not only useful to store books, but they can also be utilized for other things, such as protecting the privacy of the students. 

School is not intended to be the most private place for a student since teachers are constantly keeping an eye out to make sure that students are doing the right thing. If lockers were to be installed, this would bring students a sense of privacy and relief; they will know that things like any electronic devices, school equipment (like cameras), or any personal products they may carry, will be stored safely in a secure box with a lock on it. 

A concern that the staff or parents might have if the school did have lockers would be the idea of students keeping any illegal substance stored in their lockers, such as nicotine products or drugs. Something that can be done to prevent this problem is having a drug dog come in every so often and sniff the lockers, just as has been done with students’ backpacks, to make sure that they are clean.

Also, keep in mind that students are already given a locker for P.E. in which they store any items they need for that class. If a student did want to bring any substance of some sort and have it “secured” somewhere, they would have stored it in their P.E locker. Fortunately, this event has not happened, proving how most students are mature and know better than carrying illegal substances to school. 

Clark should invest in implementing a locker system, as it would be a very beneficial item for many, if not all students.