Jones County schools pass clear-bag policy for upcoming school year

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - The Jones County School Board recently passed a clear-bag policy, mandating that all book bags be clear.

The policy comes after an incident during the 2022-23 school year.

“We discovered a weapon in a book bag,” Superintendent Tommy Parker said. “No one was threatened with it or anything, but it was present in the book bag, and had it been where we could of viewed that, then certainly, we could of maybe prevented that from happening at all.”

Although book bags must be clear, students can have a small bag to conceal personal items.

“If they had an electronic device they need to put in there, things that they don’t want to be viewed, but it’ll be small enough that it’ll be very hard to conceal some type of weapon,” Parker said.

However, the straps of the bag are fair game and can be personalized.

“If they want to have the child’s name embroidered on the strap or personalize somehow or another on the straps of the bag, then certainly, that will be allowed for them to do that,” Parker said.

Parker said the district and board well are aware that clear bags are not an end-all solution, but hope the new requirement at least acts as preventative measure.

The exact dimensions of the clear book bags and the smaller bag can be found on the district’[s website.

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