South Hills-area districts makes security changes to bag requirements

Trendy purses or tote bags Coach Factory larger than a tissue box are a no-go inside the hallways of Brentwood Middle/High School this year.Students wishing to carry larger bags to school must place them in their lockers before the bell rings and trade them for a smaller clutch, wristlet-style purse or bag, as district leaders work to enhance security in the hallways and create a more transparent environment, officials said.

“It's like going to the airport. Everything gets screened,” said Brentwood Borough School District director of security and facilities Joseph Kozarian, who serves as the Coach Outlet Online regional director for Pennsylvania and three neighboring states for the National Association of School Resource Officers. “We have to do something as far as another layer of security.”

Brentwood joins other districts nationwide that are changing their rules for book bags and purses after a mass stabbing at Franklin Regional Senior High School in April left 20 students Coach Factory Outlet and a security guard injured, Kozarian said.“There are schools that are doing this across the country,” Kozarian said. “It's just having access.”At nearby Baldwin High School, any bag that can fit a book inside must be clear or mesh.

“If kids are bringing bags into the building, their backpacks, their books, that's fine. They should be in their locker,” Superintendent Randal Lutz said. “We provide a locker for Oakley Sunglasses everyone.”Lutz and Baldwin High School Principal Walter Graves collaborated on the new procedure after the event at Franklin Regional, Graves said. “We were looking at strategies we can take to reduce the threat of anything happening,” Graves said. “They allow the contents of a bag to be seen.”

An email was sent to students and parents through the district's notification system one and a half weeks before school started alerting them to the change, Graves said. It also was Cheap Oakley Sunglasses posted on the high school blog.The lack of timing to adjust to the change was what upset parents and students the most, the principal said.“I'm willing to take that heat. I should have notified parents early on,” Graves said.

The procedure went into effect on Sept. 2. If a student can't afford a clear or mesh bag or already had purchased a book bag before learning about the rule change, Graves said, school Cheap Oakley Sunglasses leaders will provide a bag for the student.District officials are working to have clear and mesh bags sold at the school store, Graves said.

Graves said he received about half a dozen phone calls and three to four emails from parents who were upset with the new procedure.At Harrison Middle School in Baldwin-Whitehall, backpacks have not been allowed in the hallways during the school day for the last 20 years, Lutz said.Leaders said they know this won't stop bad Cheap Oakley Sunglasses behavior, but they hope it deters it.“If they're set on it, somehow, some way, they're going to see that something happens,”

Graves said. Brentwood Middle/High School has banned Oakley Sunglasses Wholesale backpacks during the day for more than a decade, Radcliffe said. The reason for the ban also was safety: Students or teachers would trip on the oversize bags that lay on the floor in the classroom, Radcliffe said.Restrictions on purses and bags, however, went into effect this year.School officials can search a bag only if they have reason to believe there is something harmful inside, Kozarian said.

“God forbid something were to happen,” Kozarian said. “We have to protect our kids.”