Dangerous or Outrageous?

By: Isabella Pena

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     Starting on February 23rd, Monday, all students attending school in Morgan County can no longer bring metal cups or water bottles onto school grounds. It was stated on the Morgan County school’s Facebook account that metal bottles and cups were being banned, including Stanley, stainless steel, and Yeti bottles. Students are now expected to bring a plastic water bottle, which may be colored, but the sides must be transparent. If you bring a metal bottle to school, it will be confiscated and picked up by a parent or guardian at the end of the day, much like phones.

     The school director of Morgan County Schools, Jamie Pemberton, also shared his opinion on the importance of this new policy: “You know they’re having to go through and open up the cups and things … it’s just not an efficient way to do that when we’re trying to screen several hundred kids that are coming in each morning.”

      The reason for this ban is not a surprise to anyone: vapes in school. Vapes were allegedly being smuggled inside by students in the mornings inside metal water bottles, but the containers also slowed down entry in the mornings. This is because at any of the schools with metal detectors, if your metal water bottle sets off the detector, you would have to show the inside contents to ensure there were no contraband or illegal substances inside.

     In my opinion, though, I highly doubt this will stop vapes from being smuggled into the school. Teenagers, especially, have always found ways to go around rules and policies they don’t like. In the end, I believe this will be just another nuisance of a policy that was made with the belief that it would stop vape use by only restricting the means of sneaking them inside. Many others my age are already addicted, and that is not how you stop addiction.

     The policy also encourages more plastic to be bought when we have already been experiencing and seeing the damage that it causes to the environment. But vapes in schools are a higher priority for many, especially those who make the policies. What is just a couple of hundred more people buying plastic bottles to contaminate drinks with microplastics and become lukewarm by the end of the day? This policy was made for the efficiency of searches in the morning when searching students for vapes, not for bottles being used in fights or if they pose a danger to anyone. At the end of the day, this is how many recent policies end: putting a stop to phone and vape use inside schools, even if there are ways to get around it.