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School takes the weight off students
By TERRI D. REEVES © St. Petersburg Times, published November 30, 1998 That's a relief for teachers such as Lorraine Cekau, who teaches math at the school. She took a spill when a student left a backpack in the classroom aisle one day. "I was checking homework and I looked up because a boy was out of his seat," Cekau said. "I tripped over a backpack, went down on my elbow and knee. Every part of me hit the floor. It was so loud the teacher next door came running." Backpacks, it seems, have backfired. Once considered an organizational tool, they have achieved the opposite, becoming overstuffed suitcases for some. Reasons for the trend? Fashion, bigger textbooks, tougher academic regimens, extra clothes for after school. The weight and size of the backpacks have created health and safety hazards for the students and teachers, principal Linda Benware said. "Besides teachers tripping over them, a student lost his balance (because of his backpack) and fell down a flight of stairs," she said. There are other health issues, too. Benware pointed out a small girl passing in the hall. "She is a sixth-grader who weighs 59 pounds and we measured her backpack at 18 pounds. That's three times the recommended weight," she said. And rather than help the adolescents with organization, the sacks actually have given the students a false sense of security, Benware said. "With backpacks, the students don't have to plan or focus ahead of time," she said. "They become a catch-all, with the students stuffing everything and anything in them. They're like a black hole in which things just disappear and may never come out again." Benware was also concerned that forbidden articles such as knives or alcohol could be hidden in the packs. "This was not the impetus for the policy, but a consideration," she said. "Parents say: "You can hide anything anywhere,' and that's true. But it is one less place for me to look during the day." She said a knife and alcohol were found on campus last year. Benware's backpack plan allows students to bring the backpacks to school but requires that they keep the bags in their lockers. The school suggests the students carry in their arms enough supplies for two classes at a time. The passing time between classes has been extended from four to five minutes to allow students more frequent visits to their lockers. Benware said she took her backpack plan to the Tarpon Middle School Advisory Council and the Parent-Teacher-Student Association, and both groups approved it. The plan took effect Nov. 16. The Pinellas County school system has no districtwide policy about backpacks, preferring to leave such issues to each school, Associate Superintendent Ron Stone said. But other middle schools, including Osceola Middle and Dunedin Highland Middle, have adopted similar rules about use of backpacks at school. Stone said not only is storage of backpacks a problem in classrooms where space is limited, but the bags can be used as weapons. A 14-year-old girl walking to her Dunedin middle school earlier this month was beaten with her own backpack by another student, authorities said, and sustained head injuries. Nancy Eelman, a Tarpon Middle parent and SAC member, said she favors Benware's plan. "It seems like the kids are smaller or the backpacks are getting bigger," she said. "A lot of them are wearing them down too low. I think the plan will avoid future back problems." Lisa Moore said her sixth-grader, Michelle, is already becoming more organized. "I bought her a shelf to put in her locker," she said. She noted that sometimes her daughter's backpack was so heavy that she had to help her pick it up and put it on her back. Jane McGarvey, the school nurse, recently randomly weighed 82 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders and their backpacks at Tarpon Springs Middle. She found the heaviest pack weighed 24 pounds and the lightest was two pounds. The average weight was 12.3 pounds. Dr. Bruce Epstein, a St. Petersburg pediatrician who writes a child health column for the Times, said experts recommend a loaded backpack not exceed 10 percent of a child's body weight. Overloaded bags can produce shoulder and lower back pain, muscle and neck spasms and tingling and numbness in the hands and fingers. In McGarvey's survey, 57 percent of the backpacks exceeded the recommendation. "Basically, the sixth-graders have the poorest organizational skills," McGarvey said. "They are the smallest but tend to have the biggest, heaviest backpacks." Nathan Bowen is the sixth-grade student who toppled down one flight of stairs at the tri-level school. He weighs 85 pounds and isn't sure how much his backpack weighed the day he fell. "It was a lot though," he said. "I was going to lunch and my foot slipped. When I looked down, my backpack pulled me over. I skinned up my knees, elbow and foot. I just carry a few books now. My only fear now is that I'll drop my books and get them skinned up." The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated this month that more than 3,300 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in emergency rooms last year for injuries related to book bags. Physicians recommend that students who do wear backpacks use both shoulder straps fitted close to the body so the weight is distributed evenly across the back and shoulders. Luggage carts or book bags with wheels are another option. At Tarpon Springs Middle, the students seem to enjoy the extra time in the hallways between classes. Tegan Barnard and her friend, Erica Murburg, are eighth-graders who say they now have more time to socialize at their lockers. "There's more time if you need to go up and down the stairs," Murburg said. "I think it's a good plan but I feel sorry for the guys. We have purses to put extra things in, but they don't." Eighth-grade Student Council president TyRhonda Taylor said that most kids she knows did not like the backpack plan. "The boys seem to like it less than the girls," she said. "At first, everybody was complaining. It was hectic and people were rushing around. Now it's more calm and people know what they're doing." Mike Dion, an eighth-grade member of the school's crime watch committee, said he uses a binder to carry his extra papers. He carries items like a calculator, pens, pencils and money in his extra-large pants pockets. He does not foresee a drop in crime because of the new plan. "Not too many people come to school with those (forbidden) things anyway," he said. Eighth-grader Mark Beardsley, also a member of crime watch, said he favors backpacks. "I kind of drop stuff," he said. Benware predicted that some of the students' reluctance to accept the change will be short-lived. "I think some of what they are experiencing is separation anxiety," she said. "In 30 days I think it will be gone." She said every day students are more comfortable with the new ruling. "I see more focus," she said. "They're asking themselves: "What class am I going to? What will I need? How can I be sure I'm ready?' This prepares them for high school and real life as they learn to plan, organize and reflect on their academic needs."
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ARPON SPRINGS -- Students at Tarpon Springs Middle School are no longer carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, at least during the school day. Backpacks, like cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and weapons, have been banned from the classroom.
