By Tessa Ausberger ’22 and Maddie Morrison ’22
At the start of this year, the middle school administration passed a policy that prevents students from placing their backpacks in the cafeteria. New concerns from deans, faculty and maintenance have resulted in this change. Backpacks that are placed in the cafeteria are now moved outside of Horn Commons and onto the lawn.
“I think it was a necessary change, because it was getting really clogged [in the cafeteria], so it’s the best way to keep things organized,” seventh grade dean Kate Benton said.
According to Benton, because backpacks are neatly strewn across the lawn, it would be easier to find them, rather than previously where students had to dig through the cafeteria’s piles of backpacks.
“This was always the original policy, but slow and gradually it has gotten more and more relaxed. The main reason is for safety. People trip, they fall and they get injured. We have parents and older people on the campus, as well as students, so it’s mostly a safety issue,” Benton said.
While this change has made the cafeteria more safe, some students are finding that it is difficult to find their backpacks because they have been moved from the cafeteria to a random spot on the lawn.
“One time, I left my backpack in the cafeteria, to get a snack for a class. It got moved, however, and I was late to my class because it had been moved to some random spot on the lawn, ” Will Sheehy ‘22 said.