Letter to the Editor of the Port Orchard Independent

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To the Editor of the Port Orchard Independent:
The safety of students is very important in modern society, but freedom is just as important. The principal of my school has instituted random backpack and locker checks to search for weapons, such as guns or knives. If a student is in possesion of any of these items, they will be suspended on the spot. My principal says that these random checks will keep the students safe by guarding against illegal weapons at school, a safe place. I firmly believe that if these checks are allowed to go on, they will be more of a problem than a solution. The time and manpower it would take to carry out these checks would exhaust resources and prevent daily work from being executed, the atmosphere of the school would change if students thought that they weren't being given their basic civil rights, and the chance that personal items could be misplaced, broken, or shown to many people would be very high.
Schools are very busy places, with people constantly coming and going, phones constantly ringing and the staff trying to manage everything. There is a lo...

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