With the start of school, many questions have come my way. One in particular seems to warrant an answer for everyone since, if you haven’t asked it yet, you probably will soon. That question has to do with locks on the lockers.
As you’re probably aware, Neil Armstrong Academy has lockers lining the hallways instead of coat hangers in the classroom. Of all the cool things put into this new building, students may be more excited about the lockers than anything else. Who can blame them? Little else could make an elementary student feel more grown up than his or her very own locker. And, while there are many similarities to the lockers in the junior highs and high school, there are also many differences.
For me personally, this is the first time I’ve worked at an elementary school with lockers. However, we’re not the first school to cross this bridge. Many of the new elementary schools have them installed (including others right here in Granite School District) because of the hygienic benefits they bring. In our preparations to open a new STEM school, we visited many schools throughout the district, state, and country. Seeing lockers was not the primary reason for our visits, but, each time I saw them in other schools, I asked about them. The most common (near unanimous) approach to lockers in the elementary schools was to not have locks on them.
For me, the logic of this made sense with the right comparison. The most natural comparison to make with lockers is to secondary schools since they also have lockers. However, a more appropriate comparison would be to what’s typically done in elementary schools. Lockers replace the coat hangers in elementary classrooms. When compared with traditional coat hangers, I feel the lockers are far more secure. With in-class hangers, coats and backpacks were kept in very close proximity and exposed to the entire class throughout the day. Students were constantly poking over to their bags and easily had access to the belongings of those around them. With lockers, on the other hand, a student has to blatantly intrude (open up a locker) to even look at the belongings of another student. Additionally, visits to the lockers become more limited and are more under the direction of the classroom teacher since they involve stepping into the hallway. Finally, the hallways are quite a bit more secure with the comings and goings of the school staff and the security cameras. When I asked the other elementary schools who had unlocked lockers if they had theft problems, they let me know they had none whatsoever. Now, that’s certainly not a guarantee (I don’t want to jinx us), but it struck me as remarkably more secure than the traditional coat hangers.
The other reason to not have locks in elementary school is simply the efficiency of getting in and out of the lockers. Most of us remember the challenges of being seventh graders and getting the hang of a locker combination. You can imagine, those challenges are enhanced dramatically the younger the student. We’re hoping to use the lockers for minimal storage (coats/backpacks) and to access them quickly when needed.
I hope this helps explain some of the logic behind the lockers. They’re new to most of us, and we are definitely open to tweaks and adjustments as we see exactly how they work at Armstrong. But, at least to begin with, we’re following the recommendations of those who have already been down this path.
You must be logged in to post a comment.