With the new open campus rules taking over breaks and bus duties, students and faculty have found the hallways to be uncomfortably overcrowded. Commuters have no choice but to squeeze through masses of people in order to get from point A to point B, thus taking away part of the joys of the newfound freedom.
Bob Jones High School has worked to correct some of their crowded issues in the past five years by taking out the unpopular lockers and increasing hallway space. With the unused lockers taken out, BJHS students can enjoy the wider hallways without the worry of overcrowding.
Taking out most of the lockers in the school will increase hallway space, providing more much needed safety in the time of an emergency. Fire drills have kept students inching towards the exit doors, evacuating the school at a fatal pace.
During the Aug. 15 tornado drill, the English hallway had students sitting three rows deep. If a tornado had passed through the school with students out in the middle of the halls, a collapsed roof could have caused a great tragedy. And as a state right in the middle of Tornado Alley, any efforts to increase safety should always be welcomed.
Removing the lockers from the main hallways would allow a wider space to go back and forth and a deeper area to duck for safety. Students can be offered more space to mingle and the middle of the hallways would be easier to walk through.
However, such a drastic action would come with negative aspects. There are students who still use the lockers and would wish for some of them to stay. So keeping lockers in low traffic areas, such as median hallways, may appeal to both the locker users and the backpackers. Also, making sure that the structure of the school would stay sturdy is a vital point to consider.
Removing most of the lockers from the hallways has pros and cons. However with careful planning and the approval of safety precautions, it may be a positive investment to consider.