Sadly, mandatory backpack checks are a nuisance to which Schreiber students are now accustomed. Many students were late for class due to the lines outside of the front entrance as they waited for administrators to search through their backpacks on Oct. 26. This type of school-wide precautionary action is one in a list of many, and, unfortunately, will probably not be the last.
While it seems that nothing has ever come of these violent threats, The Schreiber Times is grateful for the seriousness with which the school continues to meet them. School administrators awaited students at the front doors and went through backpacks to insure that no students were able to bring in weapons or other dangerous items.
Despite the care of the administration, the student body is tired of the frequent threats of violence that manifest themselves through desk graffiti, words scrawled onto the walls of bathroom stalls, or through memes and Facebook. It is not comforting or enjoyable to learn in a foreboding environment and the morning delay of waiting to have your backpack checked is incredibly frustrating.
The student body has learned to view these threats with little care or consideration. Luckily, the administration still takes the necessary precautions to create a safe learning environment for students and teachers. If these threats continue at the current rate, the administration will eventually tire of them and fail to meet them with legitimate concern. The Schreiber Times has already noticed that as each bomb threat passes, the assistant principals check students’ bags less and less thoroughly.
Stop writing menacing messages on desks, the back pages of textbooks, or inside the library cubicles. Nobody enjoys having his or her backpack searched or wondering if today will be the day that somebody actually shows up to school with a weapon. The constant threats are ridiculous and only amount to a massive collective headache for students and staff. If the threats are meant as jokes or pranks, The Schreiber Times has news for you: they are not funny.