Dallas students required to carry clear backpacks following Uvalde shooting

The students in Texas’ second-largest school district will have to wear clear backpacks when the new school year starts this fall in the wake of May’s Uvalde school massacre. Officials in the Dallas Independent School District announced the new rule in a statement on its website.

“The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and the district has taken several steps to ensure schools are safe learning environments,” the district said. “Starting in the 2022-2023 school year, students in sixth through 12th grade will be required to use clear or mesh backpacks. Other bags will no longer be allowed.”

The district stated that it will provide a clear backpack for all secondary students before the start of the school year.

According to the Dallas ISD website, the decision was reached based on recommendations from the district’s Safety Task Force and Internal Task Force and feedback from the community.

Though the decision is a reaction to the Uvalde tragedy, the shooter in that incident was not a student at the school or an active student in the district.

The district’s new rule is reminiscent of officials’ reaction to the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018, where the murderer was not a student. Following the killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, district officials required students to carry only clear backpacks. Many students had issues with the rule, calling it a waste of resources that impacted their privacy and made them feel like the schools were being turned into prisons, NPR reported.

Dallas’ new clear-backpack rule is facing similar complaints about privacy and the impact on school culture. Plus, the rule states that the bags may not have a solid color back and “must be clear throughout,” which prevents any student from carrying a bulletproof backpack that contains ballistic protection on the panel that sits against the wearer’s back.