The locker committee members, Maureen Smith, Deb Prince and Mary Ellen Sherry, have been investigating the feasibility of installing lockers for high school students at MHS. Initial cost estimates came in at a surprising $250 per locker-uninstalled. Additionally, Mark Kelly and the district’s facilities supervisor determined that MHS only has a limited amount of covered hallway space to accommodate new lockers. We decided to conduct a survey of MHS students to determine if lockers were truly needed. 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grade students were asked 1) “yes” or “no” if they wanted a locker, 2) if they did want a locker, would they be willing to share with another student, and 3) students were asked to give reasons for their responses. Here are the results:

94% of those surveyed in the 9^th grade, 88% of those in the 10^th grade and 62% of the 11^th grade respondents said “Yes” to wanting a locker.

The top reason given was that “their backpack was heavy” or “they had too much stuff.”

However, 29% of the “Yes” respondents specifically mentioned “back pain, health problems or seeing a doctor” because of the heavy back packs. (The majority of those respondents were female.)

Other “Yes” reasons included: room for sports bags, musical instruments, lunches, coats and Zuma clipboards. Academic reasons included: organizational issues and more materials required for honors classes. Many 9^th & 10th graders thought that they “have way more stuff to carry now” than they did in middle school. Kids shuffling between divorced households had too many books to carry.

The majority of “Yes” respondents said they would share a locker because “something is better than nothing” and “anything please!” (However, many respondents were concerned about sharing because of theft, space limitations and personal space issues.)

“No” respondents said they wouldn’t use a locker because: backpacks were sufficient, had use of a car, upper class work load was lighter (seniors), used a gym locker, concerned about time constraints between classes and shortage of funding for schools.

Additional notes:

1) Block scheduling was mentioned as a way to alleviate the book shuffle.

2) A teacher suggested an application process for locker sign ups because she noted that students have very different needs.

3) Several “No” vote upper class respondents acknowledged a locker would have been helpful in 9-11^th grade.