BACKPACKS BECOMING CASUALTY OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Educators who once looked on backpacks as
little more than a tidy way for students to carry books and papers now
are surveying them warily as a potential arsenal for guns, knives and
other contraband.

After a year of schoolhouse bloodshed that shook the nation and left
administrators searching for ways to prevent more violence, the humble
backpack has made some lists of threats to school safety.

In Paris, about 90 miles northwest of Nashville, Lakewood Elementary
School pupils are allowed this year to carry only transparent
backpacks made of mesh netting or plastic.

The same goes for elementary school students in Marshall County, Ky.,
which has banned backpacks for students in grades 6 to 12. In
Westmoreland, N.Y., backpacks were prohibited on the last day of
school last spring.

"Backpacks are an ideal place for children to hide a weapon, drugs,
cellular phones, beepers or anything else they don't need," said
Marshall County schools superintendent Kenneth Shadowen.

"We know that someone wanting to bring a weapon in school will get it
in one way or another, but we hope to make it as difficult as possible."

An incident in May -- when a student pulled an ice pick from her
backpack and threatened a classmate -- crystallized the issue for Shadowen.

"We can't go around searching backpacks and book bags all day," he
said. "This approach isn't trouble-free and it punishes a lot of good
students, but we think it's best for the system."

The backpack of 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, the suspect in a May 21 school
shooting that killed two students and wounded 22 others in
Springfield, Ore., contained several ammunition clips, fully loaded,
and an assortment of loose ammunition, police said.

Also in May, a 5-year-old kindergartener in Memphis brought a loaded
pistol to school, a 16-year-old in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was charged
with carrying a concealed weapon and an eighth-grader in Hereford,
Md., hid a handgun. All the incidents involved backpacks.

In Chino, Calif., a fifth-grade girl caused havoc at her school on May
18 by writing "B-O-M-B" on her backpack, which was accidentally left
in the wrong classroom. Authorities evacuated the 950 students at
Alicia Cortez Elementary School and detonated the bag, only to find it
contained school supplies and books, including a library copy of "Old
Yeller."

"We banned backpacks on the last day of school ... in response to
these various incidents and acts of violence across the nation," said
school superintendent Marilyn Pirkle in Westmoreland.

Market research by manufacturers shows 90 percent of youngsters ages
12 to 17 have a backpack and use it almost every day.

School administrators say backpacks -- with their monster clips, daisy
chains and special compartments for CD players, laptop computers and
roller blades -- have become status symbols for kids.

JanSport Inc., the nation's leading backpack manufacturer, developed
the mesh packs after schools started changing policies. But the
transparent styles still make up less than 2 percent of the company's
sales, spokeswoman Gigi deYoung said.

"Different schools have taken different approaches to the safety
concern," deYoung said. "Some schools have abolished lockers rather
than backpacks and, to meet those needs, the kids are asking for
larger backpacks to carry their things all day."

Boston-based Eastpak, the second-largest U.S. backpack manufacturer,
developed its mesh-style Malibu line two years ago for the beach but
has begun selling more as school bags, spokeswoman Julie Mazzman said.

"We have noticed that we keep selling out of that bag, particularly in
the Southeast. But I don't think it's necessarily a trend yet," she
said.

Lakewood officials asked the local Wal-Mart to stock more transparent
backpack styles during the summer to accommodate the ban on
conventional packs that went into effect when school resumed Aug. 10.

"I'm not aware of any negative reaction (to the policy) at this
point," principal Doug Mosley said. "Frankly, I think people are more
worried about the violence right now."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry