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A public school district that’s some 50 miles northeast of Houston recently required its students to use clear backpacks as a safety precaution, per reports from Houston-based media outlets.
Friday, April 21 was the first day of the Cleveland Independent School District's (CISD) new policy implemented after an alleged threat was made to Cleveland Middle School.
Houston NPR affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM) reported that Superintendent Stephen W. McCanless said the student who made the threat has been expelled through the end of the calendar year.
“We expect students to comply with this new expectation,” McCanless said via CISD’s YouTube channel, HPM reported.
The district will enforce the policy for the rest of the current academic year.
According to Houston NBC affiliate KPRC, the superintendent said that the district conducted an investigation, with assistance from the its police department and the Liberty County District Attorney’s (DA) Office.
The clear backpacks are “in line with the Safe and Secure Schools Imitative,” CISD wrote in a Facebook post.
“Cleveland ISD’s intentions are to ensure the safest environment for your children … 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,” the post further read.
HPM reported that McCanless additionally said the students “must wear uniforms.”
CISD’s policy came on the heels of a few other districts in the state eliminating or limiting backpack usage with just a few weeks of class remaining.
The DeSoto Independent School District (DISD), which is approximately 17 miles to the south of Downtown Dallas, instituted an outright ban on backpacks for its middle and high school students that has been in effect since Monday, Dallas City Wire reported.
DISD said in a press release the ban seeks to “reduce any potential distractions,” as well as “facilitate a smooth remainder” of the waning 2022-2023 school year, the publication reported.