CLEVELAND, Texas – Cleveland Independent School District announced on Monday it will only allow clear backpacks on campuses after a serious threat was called into one of their schools.
According to Superintendent McCanless, who offered an explanation on YouTube, the decision was made following a threat called into Cleveland Middle School on Monday.
“Parents, I need you to understand the seriousness of the threat that was made at Cleveland Middle School yesterday,’ McCanless said. “We did an investigation, we involved our district police department as well as the Liberty County District Attorney’s office.”
School officials said on Facebook they are making this change to keep their schools safe. This is part of the district’s Safe and Secure Schools initiative.
Students will be required to have their clear backpacks beginning on Friday, April 21, and the bags cannot be mesh.
“We do apologize for the inconvenience of this decision and new protocol, however, we are continuing to make decisions for the safety of our students and staff,” Cleveland ISD said on Facebook.
Several parents are upset about this change, and they left comments on Cleveland ISD’s Facebook page.
“Clear backpacks create a false sense of safety. Address the issues with students who create unsafe situations and hand down a significant punishment and stop punishing the good kids and creating more rules that do nothing to stop those that choose to be destructive and harmful,” Becky W. wrote on the post.
Another parent has several kids that attend the district.
“I have 6 elementary, 2 middle schoolers, and 1 Highschool kiddo… I can NOT afford clear/mesh backpacks by Friday (for the last month of school) but I can make sure they have them for next year,” Karmen S. said on Facebook.
Some residents said they are having trouble finding the backpacks.
“It is hard to find those bag packs at this time in the stores. Not everyone has Amazon shopping or online shopping experience, do not make things hard on us please,” Habonimana M. wrote online.
Cleveland ISD said clear backpacks are around $15 at the Cleveland and New Caney Walmart stores and take two or three days to be shipped. The district indicated bags can also be found on Amazon for $10, and one-day shipping might be available.