Backpacks have always been an issue in school. When should we have them? When do they need to be put away? Chelsea High students have been pondering this quietly for a while now, and it’s starting to gain attention.

“I think that it really depends on the situation. For me, I only bring my backpack if I’m running late or something like that, and I usually just put it in the back room,” Senior Grace Ratliff said.

Having backpacks in class would be convenient; if you forget a book or need supplies and your backpack is on your person, then you’re not walking back to your locker, which is taking time in class.

The leading issue is the thought of what if, which comes back to school shootings. As hard as it is to talk about the issue, it’s a real one that should be addressed appropriately. These terrible events do happen. So the question is, where does the line lie for having backpacks in class, and is there a compromise to this problem?

“I guess I do understand that with the fear of a school shooting happening, but obviously, you’re always like, it’s not going to happen,” Ratliff said. “If it did, then it would be a big problem. I would say it just depends on the situation that you’re in.”

If the school did allow for backpacks to be brought into rooms, not everyone would take advantage of that, and there would still be lots of kids who would store their backpacks in their lockers.

“That’s completely biased because I could put all this stuff in a tote bag and bring it to class,” Ratliff said. “So I think if they’re going to be so uptight on backpacks, then they need to say, Hey, you can’t bring tote bags either.”