No backpacks, no string bags

[Anonymous]

I wonder if my son can carry all of his stuff to/from classes in a Target bag? He has lots to carry so will definitely lose small books if not contained in a bag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK but why didn't anyone mention this new policy before yesterday? I could have bought one of those binder things or at least not wasted time packing the bag-within-a-bag for my kid.

And I personally used a backpack every single day from K-12 so I'm not sure about these PPs who claim this is normal or has been going on for years.

My kid is a freshman and it's been like this since they started MS. What school is this? Didn't you order the sprout box? It has everything the kids need.

Swanson MS. I don't think they have a Sprout box, if they do I've never heard of it.

Gunston doesn't have Sprout boxes either. From what I've heard only elementary schools in APS have this option. Or rather, only the PTAs at elementary schools offer this. I don't know if MS doesn't allow it and ES does or if there aren't enough PTA volunteers in MS to do this.

[Anonymous]

Homeschool your children before they think this madness is normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if my son can carry all of his stuff to/from classes in a Target bag? He has lots to carry so will definitely lose small books if not contained in a bag.

If everyone is just going to use "some other bag" then it defeats the purpose of "no bags". They need to back down on this one. It's ridiculous. I don't even like to walk around with wallet/keys/phone in a stack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if my son can carry all of his stuff to/from classes in a Target bag? He has lots to carry so will definitely lose small books if not contained in a bag.

If everyone is just going to use "some other bag" then it defeats the purpose of "no bags". They need to back down on this one. It's ridiculous. I don't even like to walk around with wallet/keys/phone in a stack.

Wallet, keys and phone should stay in their locker.

They're just bringing a book, iPad, notebooks/binder and a pencil case. They'll only have 2-3 classes before a trip to their locker (before or after lunch), so they don't need to carry that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School probably changed to the “no string bags rule” because kids were sneaking their phones to class in the bags.

And now they'll have to sneak them in their pockets.

It's fine if they changed the rule, I just wish they had mentioned it before school started so we could have planned accordingly.

Actually phones will need to be in their pouch, so the pouch will be out exposed, so it may make it more obvious if the pouch is empty.

not in middle school. for some insane reason, APS thinks high schoolers need phone pouches but middle schoolers do not. make it make sense!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School probably changed to the “no string bags rule” because kids were sneaking their phones to class in the bags.

And now they'll have to sneak them in their pockets.

It's fine if they changed the rule, I just wish they had mentioned it before school started so we could have planned accordingly.

Actually phones will need to be in their pouch, so the pouch will be out exposed, so it may make it more obvious if the pouch is empty.

not in middle school. for some insane reason, APS thinks high schoolers need phone pouches but middle schoolers do not. make it make sense!

It makes total sense to me. I have a high schooler and a middle schooler. The high school kids completely ignored the phone away for the day rule. Most middle schoolers are more likely to follow the rules. A lot of the 6th graders don’t even have phones yet. Also a lot less of them to monitor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School probably changed to the “no string bags rule” because kids were sneaking their phones to class in the bags.

And now they'll have to sneak them in their pockets.

It's fine if they changed the rule, I just wish they had mentioned it before school started so we could have planned accordingly.

Actually phones will need to be in their pouch, so the pouch will be out exposed, so it may make it more obvious if the pouch is empty.

not in middle school. for some insane reason, APS thinks high schoolers need phone pouches but middle schoolers do not. make it make sense!

It makes total sense to me. I have a high schooler and a middle schooler. The high school kids completely ignored the phone away for the day rule. Most middle schoolers are more likely to follow the rules. A lot of the 6th graders don’t even have phones yet. Also a lot less of them to monitor.

Also they are not telling high school kids they can’t carry around backpacks. Middle school kids with no bags it’s going to be harder to carry around a phone without being obvious.

[Anonymous]

Williamsburg offered the Sprout supplies kit for ordering over the summer. Not sure if string bags allowed, haven’t heard it mentioned. But growing up in middle school early 90s we did carry around all our binders and multiple text books (remember those?) wrapped in brown paper bags. We managed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School probably changed to the “no string bags rule” because kids were sneaking their phones to class in the bags.

And now they'll have to sneak them in their pockets.

It's fine if they changed the rule, I just wish they had mentioned it before school started so we could have planned accordingly.

Actually phones will need to be in their pouch, so the pouch will be out exposed, so it may make it more obvious if the pouch is empty.

not in middle school. for some insane reason, APS thinks high schoolers need phone pouches but middle schoolers do not. make it make sense!

There are several threads on this and it's far from rocket science.

Middle school students keep their bafs and phones in lockers during the day. No need for phone pouches because phones are left in lockers.

High schools don't have enough lockers and many high school students don't want to use lockers. So high schools have pouches because so many high school students carry their things, including their phones, with them during the school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son attends middle school and came home yesterday mentioning this policy, but i haven't seen anything official about it in any of the emails from the school. I guess they're supposed to use the lockers a lot more? I'm honestly confused how they're supposed to manage this.

Your kid can’t carry an iPad, a binder and a water bottle?

He has different folders/notebooks/binders for different classes. Not to mention music and stuff for band. Of course it's not impossible, just seems like it would be frustrating to keep track of everything and I'm envisioning things getting left behind. Can't the backpacks live draped over the backs of the chairs??

The teachers at our MS that require a separate binder have kept that binder in their class, my child has not brought it home or had to take it out of the class. I can't say that it makes much sense to me but that is how it has been handled. He has a binder for A days and B days with folders for each class in the binder and that is what he carries. He does have to carry his lap top, binder, and water bottle but so does every other kid in the school. He hasn't complained about it to me.