Saya Kubo

Two lockers are opened side by side, one always in use while the other collects dust.

The lockers at Cal High aren’t useful anymore.
When the main building first opened in 2006, lockers were a lot more beneficial to students because they had to carry heavy textbooks and notebooks around campus for each class.
But now, for the most part, students don’t need to bring any textbooks to school because they are kept in class or digital copies are available.
In addition, most school assignments are primarily completed on students’ Chromebooks. Teachers also assign most of their work through websites such as Google Classroom and Big Ideas. Using these websites reduces the folders, binders and notebooks students need to lug around campus.
With fewer school supplies required, students don’t really need a locker to store their bulky class items.
Cal has about 2,450 lockers in the main building. But the total number of students who requested a locker this year is only 355, according to school records. That means less than 15 percent of school lockers are being used.
Because of Cal’s block schedule, students also don’t need to carry as many supplies on a daily basis since only up to four classes meet.
Lockers were originally used to help prevent students from carrying heavy items around school. But it’s a hassle for students to constantly go up and down the stairs to gather items from lockers, so they just keep items in backpacks.
If students come from the fine arts building and their next class is in the science building, it’s time-consuming to get their class items from their locker in the main building. Even though there is brunch and lunchtime for students to go to the lockers, most students prefer to enjoy those few minutes to de-stress, use the bathroom, eat, and talk to their friends.
If everyone used the five-minute passing period to go to their lockers, it would be chaotic for students to get needed materials and get to class on time. There just isn’t enough time for students to use lockers efficiently.
Lockers still have a practical use for non-academic purposes, such as storing food some sports equipment for extra-curricular activities. In these cases, the school lockers actually serve a good purpose. Students who play after-school sports may have an additional backpack with their sports gear. Most students don’t want to carry heavy gear, or two backpacks around all day.
Plus, most students can’t go home to get their gear and get back to practice on time. Lockers are mostly useful for these student-athletes. But this only applies to a fraction of students.
There are other problems associated with lockers. School staff sometimes has to pry open lockers because locks are jammed. This is an inconvenience for staff and students as it takes away time from the day.
Since the majority of students don’t use a locker for academic reasons, the school should make a slight adjustment to the bell schedule to better accommodate students who need more time to go back and forth from their classes to their lockers.
Cal should extend passing period times by a minute or two to allow students more time to access their lockers. This would make the school day a little longer, but students who choose to use a locker would have enough time to comfortably store their supplies during the school day.
And this might increase the number of students actually using the thousands of empty lockers on campus.