Pubdate: Mon, 11 Dec 2006
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 3A
Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Emily Bazar, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SCHOOLS BAG PURSES IN CLASS

Citing Security Concerns, Administrators Expand Backpack Rule to 
Include Handbags

Some high school administrators charged with keeping their students 
safe are zeroing in on a potential vulnerability: the purses many 
teenage girls say they can't live without.

Educators in Minnesota, Kentucky, Florida and elsewhere are banning 
purses from classrooms, saying students can hide weapons or drugs 
inside. Their security concerns have grown as purses have. Some bulky 
purses are the size of backpacks, which many schools restrict.

"With the recent shootings and the threats that we had this year, I 
don't want to take the risk," says Jeff Sampson, assistant principal 
of Winona Senior High School in Winona, Minn. A shooting threat 
prompted a lockdown at the school in October.

The previous month, the 1,400-student school had broadened its 
existing backpack restriction to include purses. Now, students must 
keep purses in their lockers unless they have an approved medical 
reason to carry one, such as needing to carry a medical device that 
won't fit in their pocket. He wouldn't be more specific.

Students are allowed to take small pencil bags to class, Sampson says.

No one keeps statistics on the trend, but the National Association of 
Secondary School Principals agrees that more schools are adding 
purses to their restrictions on backpacks and other large bags. "You 
shouldn't underestimate how prudent school officials have to be," 
says Dick Flanary, the group's director of professional development.

Some students say the purse ban goes too far. Abby Kowitz, 16, of 
Fergus Falls, Minn., says she and her friends carry ChapStick, gum, 
pens and, when necessary, feminine hygiene products in their purses. 
Last month, officials at Fergus Falls High School told them their 
purses, like backpacks, would have to remain in lockers during class.

"We allow students, both female and male, to carry a small bag," 
Assistant Principal Tindyl Rund says. "It can hold pencils, a 
calculator, ChapStick -- we showed the students several examples. We 
have termed them 'hand-size.' "

Kowitz, a junior, says she and her friends consider the policy "kind 
of pointless." "If someone wants to bring a weapon to school, not 
being able to carry a purse won't stop them," she says.

Sophomore Rebecca Stenstrom, 15, says it's important that girls have 
personal items close at hand, and she worries about leaving valuable 
items such as an MP3 player in her locker. "Even the guys think the 
girls need to be able to carry their purses," she says.

Rund says students who need feminine products can take their purses 
to the bathroom between classes, visit the school nurse or carry what 
they need in their "hand-size bag."

Restricting purses to lockers also reduces clutter and crowding, she says.

"Some of the purses were getting so huge," says Michael Blevins, 
principal of Conner High School in Hebron, Ky. The 1,650-student 
school expanded its backpack policy to include purses in October, he 
says. Pencil bags are allowed in classrooms.

"We have overcrowding in our school," he says. "Purses were banging 
into people in our hallways."

Restricting purses to lockers isn't a foolproof way to keep drugs, 
weapons or any prohibited items off campus, Blevins acknowledges, but 
they're less accessible. "If they're in a locker, I'm not saying it 
couldn't harm somebody, but it would have decreased the amount." 
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