Columbus County Community Chat

A possible book bag ban by Whiteville City Schools administrators set off a wave of disapproval last week.

The idea is well-intended because of recent incidents, but the practical aspect of a ban left both parents and students in a fury.

There are at least two sides to the issue. Students’ book bags are essentially their lockers. There is little time between classes to exchange books or retrieve shorts and shoes for gym; bags must be packed to the gills for the entire day.

On the other hand, school administrators believe that banning book bags would limit drugs and weapons from being brought onto campus. The administration has said student safety is a focus, and the ban would reduce opportunities for students to hide contraband.

What is needed, however, is a discussion among parents, students, teachers and school improvement teams before administrators hand down an edict. A discussion would give administrators the opportunity to present their case, perhaps to show that book bag bans in other schools have worked. A discussion would allow parents and students to reiterate the multiple problems a ban would bring.

There are other means that should be put on the table in any discussion about school safety. These include, among others:

• Send more students who break the rules or who are perpetually problematic to North Whiteville Academy, or expel the incorrigible. The state recently recognized North Whiteville Academy as one of only three alternative “schools of promise” because of the extraordinary job the staff does to counsel troubled students and to set them on a path of learning. North Whiteville Academy not only separates troubled kids from those who want to learn, it is an effective teaching institution.

• Bring the drug dog onto campus, unannounced, at will and often. Dealers and users are adept at hiding drugs. The dogs are hard to fool.

Dogs can also be trained to sniff out firearms and ammunition. Raising money for such a dog could be accomplished in one day.

• Institute a school uniform policy at Central and the high school. No more gangster wear. No more skin and tats. Gang members and gang wannabes will find ways to show their allegiances even with uniforms, but uniforms are an equalizer when clothes define students rather than their behavior and performance among their peers.

Parents should appreciate the schools’ attempts to make school safer but the decision shouldn’t be unilateral. Proposals such as book bag bans and school uniforms are controversial and have pluses and minuses. Because parents and the schools have a common goal –safety – solutions determined by community discussion and consensus are how it should be done.

“If a noise is a nuisance, the person will get a citation,” said Police Lt. Glenda George, “and a nuisance is well-defined in the city code.”

Police are starting a crackdown on noise pollution in accordance with the city ordinances.

The city has a number of rules regarding incessantly barking dogs, loud music on city streets or in homes, and other headache-producers. George said violation of the ordinance can result in a fine.

Anything audible outside of a vehicle or home can be considered a nuisance at any time of day or night, George said, but police use a lot of discretion in enforcing the rules.

“Mowing your yard at 10 in the morning won’t get you a ticket,” she said, “but mowing your yard at 10 at night will. People need to use common sense.”

According to the city code, amplified sounds are not allowed within 300 feet of hospitals, schools, churches, public buildings and nursing homes, or in any other “zone of quiet.”

Loud music or exhaust should only be able to be heard by the people in a vehicle, George explained.

“And that means inside a vehicle,” George said. “Standing in the front yard with the car doors open doesn’t put you inside the vehicle.”

George said the rules aren’t about keeping people from enjoying loud music or other sounds.

“It’s about being a nuisance to other people,” she said. “Anything that intrudes upon your peace and tranquility is a nuisance, and will be dealt with accordingly.”

George said parents can go a long way to helping with the problem by limiting how loud kids turn up the radio in the family car.

“If your children borrow your car and play the radio,” she said, “please tell them not to turn the volume past 03. Much more than that can damage hearing anyway.”

In the wake of last month’s post-football game murder at Lake Waccamaw and the rumored possible retaliation at WHS that following Monday — 70 percent of the students stayed home — Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Randall Shaver outlined what he plans to do to make the school safer.

Included in that list was the possible banning of book bags.

Last week, it was announced to students that the ban might begin Nov. 1 for WHS as well as Central Middle and Edgewood Elementary schools.

Whiteville Primary School would not be affected.

Other than the announcement, details were sketchy. No one was sure if mesh or clear book bags could be substituted or if the ban would extend to all types of bags, including pocketbooks or purses.

Critics of the ban say that it’s overkill and ask how students will be able to haul 20 or more pounds of books to and from school and from class to class.

Since the murder and retaliation rumor, WHS students have been going through metal detection devices each morning before their first class.

The process is time consuming – nearly 800 students have to be “scanned” and almost as many book bags, pocketbooks, gym bags and band instrument cases have to be visually or physically searched.

WHS Principal John Westberg said the process has gotten faster but still takes a large amount of time in the mornings.

Westberg had no specifics to offer on what the final plan would be. Shaver said that the system had yet to determine what exactly would be banned.

Each school’s school improvement team is working out the details.