We haven't had lockers for two years now and as a teacher, I hated it. Most teachers liked it because it supposedly cut down on the tardies, but I had the same amount I always had - my class starts once you enter the room with "bell work" that's collected as soon as I'm done with roll. While I really never had a tardy issue, because others did, I gained a safety issue. All those backpacks took up so much room that tripping over them was a common occurence.
I also never had problems with things disappearing when I didn't allow backpacks. At the end of two years w/o lockers, 1/5 of my classroom set of texts, nearly 1/2 of my free reading books, and a handful of personal belongings such as yearbooks from previous years grew legs and never came back. Students reported losing things like money or CDs a lot more once we had no lockers as well.
As for no bells - well...unless every teacher has synchronized watches and is 100% on time when they send their classes, I see a problem. We have teachers who hold them after the bell as it is now, can't imagine what they'd do when there is no bell.
The clocks in our school are not even synchronized. Could make a problem when a student released at 10:00 a.m. from room X shows up 1 minute later in room Y where the clock reads 10:05.
You voice some of my own concerns. I'm trying to be supportive and am hopeful that if it doesn't work, they'll reconsider. But they are basing the plan on strategies successful in other schools. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.
To be completely accurate, they planned/announced the "no lockers" rule for this year but then backed off a little, deciding to allow lockers first semester and then phase them out over Christmas. Students are only allowed to visit their lockers two specific times: mid-morning and mid-afternoon. That makes it pretty useless for most things (since they can't go before/after school).
My 13 year-old daughter had back problems last year and ended up needing phyiscal therapy. The weight and style of school backpacks was a contributing factor.
Though I don't have experience with the bells, I went to a high school for one month, we moved a bit, and I could never get my locker to close so I didn't leave anything in it. I carried everything around for the month we lived there. I have had back problems ever since. I also couldn't see carrying around personal things, such as gym clothes in a bag that allwed anyone to see them. I could live without bells, but are all of their clocks on time? I know ours never are. And what about those teachers that refused to dismiss you until they were done talking? Are they allowed to keep you there? I know I'm negative. If it doesn't work, will they go back to the old way?
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
I guess I posted to you already on the Social board... UMMM... we don't do it here, course our school is small anyway... but I have never heard of it... Can see it has good points but guess I am just so used to the old ways of doing things... Anxious to hear thru you how it goes...
Jag
This isn't really a PTO issue, more of a general parent/school question.
This year our district is changing a couple of old standbys:
1) No Bells - Other than the first bell of the day, there will be no bells signalling the end of class. Instead, the teachers simply release students when it's time. Note - students have 4 minutes to get from one class to the next and a very strict tardy policy. So it will be interesting to see how this works out.
2) No lockers - students carry all their supplies with them in a mesh or clear backback. (Note - the school is making an effort to have at-home copies of textbooks "for those where there are enough" and otherwise reduce how many books are carried.) But each student has a huge 3" binder stuffed full, a planner, maybe PE clothes, maybe lunch. Later they'll have a coat. Plus an extras to keep up with.
These measures are suppossed to create a more calming, less disruptive environment and improve discipline. Has anyone else been thru this? Did it work?
