Whittier : Student Lockers Will Be Removed at Edwards

Students attending Katherine Edwards Intermediate School will find something missing next fall: student lockers.

School officials list numerous reasons for removal, which the Whittier City School District board approved at its regular Monday night session. For one, lockers are easy prey for thieves. “The lockers are so old,” Principal Paz Enciso said. “All some need is a kick or shove to open.” Others stick and stay closed. Also, lockers become targets for graffiti--some friendly, some not. Moreover, some teachers complain that locker visits occupy too much of students’ time.

In addition, the lockers make a good hiding place for contraband, Enciso said, although he acknowledged that in his five years at the school, only once have administrators discovered an illegal drug in a locker.

He said the seventh- and eighth-grade students and parents initially objected to the idea. But the plan has received more support since parents learned that the school would buy new books for in-class use. That means students can keep their own texts at home. Enciso says the school is seeking a donor to provide students with backpacks for their personal belongings.