3/19/2019

A row of unused lockers in downstairs C-Wing has its locks turned backwards. Lockers are available for rent,
but few students use them. (CHRISTOPHER WESSEL | SNN)

Lakewood High School students say they don’t use the lockers, because they have no need for them.

By ANGEL LACLAUSTRA
SNN Staff Writer

All around Lakewood High School, lockers surround the students. Wherever you look, there is bound to be a locker. With the incredible number of lockers that Lakewood has, you would think that someone, anyone, would use them. However, students are not using them. At all.

Last year, only 350 locks were rented. And that accounts for all the lockers in the gym and around the hallways. This year, with just over 1,000 students in the school, only two locks were rented.

“The problem is that there is no one in charge; the students are not being told of the process of how to get a locker,” Spanish teacher Linda Santiago said.

All it takes, according to bookkeeper Natalie Bostic, is to come to her office and rent a lock for $4. Bostic will then assign you to one of the many available lockers in the school. It is a simple process that would take less than five minutes, she said.

Some say that getting one’s locker was a big part of the high school experience. After all, all high school movies depict multiple scenes where the characters gather around a locker. For example, remember all those scenes on High School Musical?

Sophomore Jackson Frankel currently is one of the two owners of a Lakewood locker. Even though he has one, he said he does not really see the point of having one. Frankel only keeps drinks in his locker to help him keep hydrated throughout the day.

“There is just no purpose from a school perspective,” Frankel said.

Some students have expressed their disagreement with the locker’s prices.

“I think we should be able to use the lockers. They should be free. Maybe we could buy our own locks,” senior Angel Anderson said.

Some students think the idea of lockers is quite impractical when you consider how Lakewood’s block schedule works. Lockers were first created to give students a place to keep all their books and backpacks, but these students predominantly had seven to eight classes a day, meaning they had to carry more materials around school. In Lakewood, students only have four classes a day and most of those classes don’t require students to bring heavy textbooks to class.

“There are not a lot people who have one (textbook),” senior Jeremy Texel said. “There is no need for it.”

Instead, most courses have a classroom set of textbooks that are just used when students are in class. Still, there are some teachers that ask students to bring textbooks with them to school every day. In general, only math and science or sometimes AP classes issue textbooks.

Lockers would help these students. Some people claim that even if you do have textbooks to carry, you would be able to go on with your life just fine without a locker.

“People that do use a locker, could go without one just fine,” senior Sara Sulku said.