March Edition 2026: Should Hopkins Students Have Lockers?

 A survey of Hopkins students showed that 84% of them would like to have a locker and said that they believed lockers would improve student life. Seen in many movies and stories about schools, this begs a question. Should students have them at Hopkins?

Previously, Hopkins had lockers. “The lockers were up and down the hallways ,” said Assistant Principal Moore, “and they were old and dirty. Some lockers were never used, and the lockers were sometimes broken into. Some students liked the space and had a good experience, but the lockers also got damaged due to rain too and the locks would sometimes break.” 

In 2021, when construction began to build the J Building and add 6th graders to Hopkins, the lockers were removed. “I think the lockers weren’t being used enough for having lockers to make sense, so the district or the construction company removed it. But we did keep a few just in case students did need lockers.” said Assistant Principal Moore. Today, some of the lockers still remain near the Girls’ Locker Room and the B Building. 

Lockers were very common in school culture and in the media. Spanish teacher Sra. Marquez and 6th grade English and History  teacher Ms. Brahaney both said that they had lockers in high school in an interview. Many books and graphic novels/comics, such as Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, and others include lockers in their stories. 

Pros:

Lockers would bring many benefits to our school. Students wouldn’t need to carry backpacks, which can be heavy,  and they would not have to carry so many items around and outside of campus. Lockers could also be integrated into our curriculum. In 6th grade, most students take Academic Strategies, and it perfectly coincides with the first time they will have a locker at school (unless their previous elementary school had lockers, which most likely they didn’t.). Binder and backpack organization is already taught in this course, so adding locker organization would cleanly fit into the general idea of the elective. 

Lockers also promote student responsibility, as they would be responsible for taking care of it and making sure their lockers are clean and organized. Schools would have less theft since important personal items, such as jewelry, laptops, etc. could be stored in lockers that other people can’t access. Seventh grader Raghav Sharma said that “You have a personal space, which you need to take care of. You need to clean it, and you need to organize it. It gets people to take self responsibility, which is something they may not do normally. You need to remember your code or key  or else you can't take anything out. 

Classrooms would also be able to have more space without backpacks taking up room. This could give students more space to collaborate and let teachers create a  better classroom environment. “Backpacks take up too much space simply because when you’re trying to get through seats, it’s hard to get through when the space between the desks is really narrow. If we had lockers, we could take out whatever we needed first instead of having to haul all of our books around,” says sixth grader Lee Lechner.  The extra space could also be used to expand class sizes, which could increase the amount of students per elective class and overall save the school some money since they wouldn’t need as many teachers. 

Furthermore, Sra. Marquez says that “Students got to personalize their lockers,  decorate them, put shelves, pictures, things people liked,” when asked what school was like with lockers. Lockers would give students their own space they could utilize to make school feel more comfortable and inclusive. 

Cons:

However, installing lockers would also have many disadvantages. Misuse and vandalism of lockers may be common if integrated.  Custodians would have to work more to clean these lockers, space is also a concern. Teachers would have to waste class time reminding students to keep our lockers clean and undamaged, since not everyone is responsible for cleaning them. When asked about some downsides of having lockers, Sra. Marquez said that “there would be rotten food in the lockers, and it could be smelly if not cleaned.  However, it  would teach students to be responsible and keep their lockers clean. In bigger high schools, there were issues with students hiding drugs and cigarettes in the lockers, and we often had locker raids.”

 Lockers could cause more problems than it could solve, as passing periods would have to be longer so students can get all their items. Crowding would be common, with hundreds of students rushing to their lockers and getting the items on time. “I think lockers would be very inconvenient because you would have to walk to your locker to get something instead of carrying it with you.” said sixth grader Lydia Chin.

Ms. Brahaney also mentioned that “If I forgot my books in my locker, or if I wanted them over the weekend or for class, I couldn’t access them.  You would also have to remember your locker combination and students would get in trouble if they forgot the combination. There was also a lot of time wasted.  I’m unsure if  there is enough room for lockers and storage? Getting to the locker is challenging because there are a lot of people trying to get their stuff at the same time.”

The practicality of lockers is also debatable. Educational supplies have changed so that students don’t need to carry large textbooks or other heavy supplies that would need to be stored.  In an anonymous survey, the most common items students had were pencil pouches, binders, and notebooks. Other students mention books for READ, water bottles, lunches, and math books,  however all of these items are able to fit in a backpack and don’t need the extra locker space.  The cost and installation of these lockers could also prove unsustainable and expensive, which could reduce funding for arts programs and other things that students deserve and want.

In short, lockers are a feature with the potential to be installed and added to Hopkins. Lockers could allow schools to save immense amounts of money and give students more security for their items is extremely appealing, but when compared to how much items students have and how much lockers would cost, the question still remains: Should students at Hopkins have lockers?