Lockers have been a staple of any high school for decades, but this seemingly essential part of student life is now facing a considerable decline in popularity. Fewer and fewer students each year are using their lockers, opting instead to just bring their backpack everywhere to class. This has plummeted locker usage, leading many to question their purpose. So that begs the question: Why are students not using their lockers?

The leading cause for many students can be traced to impracticality. When a homeroom is given the option to get their locker registered, they are always in specific locations that leave little room for flexibility. The classrooms at the high school are spread out around the three-story building, and with similar classes often in proximity with one another, it is impossible for a locker to be always accessible. If I have English on the third floor, and I need my textbook for History the next hallway over, but my locker is on the first floor, am I really going to take that entire extra route for the book when I can instead just wear a backpack that holds everything I need throughout the day? At that point, it just becomes an inconvenience.

“I’ve never used mine. They are too far out of my way; it’s just impractical,” stated senior Michael Ulery.

The most common issue amongst students is the ease of forgetting about their lockers. Whether it is their combination, lock number, or both, it is difficult to remember information about something that is never used, which ultimately limits usage even more. This issue is most prominent for the homerooms that require locker registration, which has been thinning over the years, but is still a relatively common occurrence. 

“I don’t use it. I don’t know where it is, or my locker number, or my lock combination,” said freshman Elizabeth Dunlevy.

Not everybody has cast their lockers aside, though. While the number of students who actively use lockers are dwindling, there is a select group who have been using it consistently for years and have no intention of stopping. These students appreciate the utility that a personal locker provides, and do not find the location of their locker to be a hindrance. However, after interviewing nearly 5 dozen students, I was unable to find anybody who actually uses their locker, so take this point with a grain of salt.

Contrary to the high school populace, middle school students actually use their lockers consistently. They are all assigned a locker like several of the high school homeroom groups, but the difference lies in location. The lockers there are considerably more accessible to the students, and with the more condensed building overall, it is not as much of a hassle to take a quick stop and swap out supplies. 

“Yes, I use my locker. We’re supposed to, and it helps keep all my stuff safe,” said eighth grader Ryan Benedict.

Shaler students are not the only ones who hold an opinion on lockers. GATE Teacher Mrs. Christina Palladino has been a longtime supporter of the lockers here at the high school, and assigns lockers to her GATE homeroom each year, even with their consistency of forgetting them. 

“Usually it’s after holiday breaks like Winter Break, Christmas Break, and Spring Break when students come to us because they can’t remember their combinations, even if they put something in it since they just do it infrequently. By the end of the year, when we’re collecting locks, usually everyone is looking for their combination again,” Mrs. Palladino said.

Mrs. Palladino herself used her locker every day during her high school years, and still uses one for the classes she teaches. While GATE does assign lockers to all of their freshmen and sophomore members, they are not forced to use it by any means. She noted that only 8-10 of the roughly 34 underclassmen GATE students actively use their locker, but it really helps those few. While she acknowledges the relative decline in locker usage, their complete removal by the school is an unlikely concept. Mrs. Palladino thinks more can be done to help encourage her students as an alternative.

“It would take a lot to remove all the lockers. I think that is probably not going to happen, so incentivizing it may be a better idea, or finding out from students why they aren’t using it. If you could come up with a reason to use it, then promote that through teachers or homeroom.” she explained. “Maybe also ask “is it the location,” if they’d rather have it be a certain part of the school building, that would help them use it more.”