BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Student locker and backpack use at the high school was a topic of discussion at Potsdam Central School during its Tuesday night Board of Education meeting.

Last year, Potsdam’s in-school police officer Michael Neaton recommended that students not wear jackets in school or carry backpacks from class to class for safety reasons. Mainly the ability to conceal something inside the bag or coat.

A second reason Superintendent Joann Chambers cited was the weight of backpacks and the potential damage it may be doing to their bodies.

Chambers noted the female students are permitted a handbag for personal items.

So what do students do with their books and other belongings? Normally, they would be stored in lockers.

However, the question was raised whether or not students should be in close proximity to each other near their lockers which defies social distancing.

Board member Chris Cowan said he supports the reasons for the backpack rule, but said he would like to see a compromise.

“All the reasons for this, I 100% support, the research is there, I get that,” Cowen said. “But then COVID came along ... personally I don’t want to see people, and I don’t care what the health department says, I don’t want to see people being forced to be within a foot of each other in the middle of a pandemic because it’s by design. It wasn’t their choice.”

He was referring to Public Health saying that the amount of time students spend at lockers, with masks on, is not considered a risk to contract COVID-19.

He was also concerned that this rule was not formal.

“Have we determined where this policy actually is?” Cowan asked.

“It’s not a policy,” Chambers said. “It’s not a Board policy.”

Cowan said if the district is going to have a rule then it needs to be in writing, such as in the student handbook.

PCS HS Principal Mark Bennett said the information was conveyed to parents and students in literature prior to the start of school.

Bennett said most students have been compliant.

Chambers said that the rule could be added to the handbook once it is updated.

That answer appeased Cowen. “I don’t think we should have a rule that we can’t point to,” he said.