East Garner Magnet Middle School administrators want to get rid of backpacks this school year.
The Wake County Public School System middle school posted to Facebook at the end of last week, explaining that every student “will receive their own binder bag to use for carrying what they need throughout the school day.” The post includes a graphic reading, “Please do not bring a backpack.”
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Parents reached out to WRAL, saying they received late notice about the change and that the new policy is confusing. Parents say the backpack ban caused major delays dropping off their children on Monday, the district’s start of the school year. Some told WRAL it took upward of an hour as students emptied their backpacks before walking in the doors.
Victoria Harris has a son who just started sixth grade at the school. She says she didn't see the Facebook post and thinks the communication from the school should've been much clearer.
"It’s terrible," Harris said. "They made it seem like backpacks were an optional thing – not necessary, but if needed one you could bring. And then [Monday morning] – no backpacks."
Allison Barbour, whose child attends East Garner, wrote a letter to Principal Sharon Fennell and district administrators expressing her frustration over a pattern of “inconsistent communication.”
“Information was not communicated to us through TalkingPoints, the communication platform families have consistently been instructed to use for school communications,” the letter says. “Facebook has never been a source the school has directed us to use until yesterday, when our son brought home a QR code to direct us to the school’s Facebook page.”
The letter went on to express confusion about why the new policy was put in place.
Barbour says she was later contacted by Principal Fennell and she is "very satisfied with the conversation."
In a video sent to parents Monday evening, Principal Fennell apologized for any confusion about the backpack policy. She says that because of the confusion, students will be allowed to bring backpacks as the school works to transition away from using them in favor of binder bags.
“The expectation, I want to set that clearly, is that we are not bringing [backpacks] this school year,” Fennell said in the video. “Every decision we make is out of an abundance of safety precautions.”
Some parents applaud the backpack ban.
"The bookbags are bulky – their shoulders hurt, their backs hurt," Yolanda Starks, an East Garner parent, said. "So I think to have something more compact is easier to transition from class to class."
Starks said she would still, however, like more clarity on why the policy was changed.
Fennell also says in the social media video that East Garner has not yet received binder bags to distribute to students. In the meantime, the school will give students white binders and a “clear cinch sack” to hold belongings.
WRAL has reached out to Wake County Public School System for more information and has not yet heard back.