A school district in Dallas, Texas, has become the latest to introduce a clear backpack policy following the deaths of 21 students and staff in Uvalde.
In an announcement on Monday, the Dallas Independent School District said it would be requiring students from grades six to 12 to come to school with a clear or mesh backpack.
The school district said the change follows a recommendation from its safety task force as well as feedback from parents concerned about another Uvalde-style massacre happening in Dallas.
"We acknowledge that clear or mesh backpacks alone will not eliminate safety concerns," said the Dallas school in its announcement. "This is merely one of several steps in the district's comprehensive plan to better ensure student and staff safety."
Clear backpacks have already been purchased by the district to be distributed amongst students, who will be allowed to carry a small non-clear pouch inside their backpacks.
Schools across Texas have introduced similar changes ahead of the 2022-23 school year after 19 students and two teachers were shot dead by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in May.
Clear backpacks also became more common in US schools following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed.
In Greenville, the local school district said in June that it would require clear backpacks and introduce security measures in the new school year after Uvalde including keeping doors locked at all times, CNN reported.
“This common-sense measure is becoming more common at both school and public events,” the Greenville school district website said of the measures.
The massacre in Uvalde has prompted both criticism of the police response as well as discussion about school safety and the importance of locked classroom doors amid a series of mass shootings across the country.
