Collinsville High School is currently in the process of taking out the lockers and putting more classrooms into place of the locker bays.

During Covid we were not able to use lockers due to the confined locker spaces and how close they were to each other. We were told to maintain six feet at all times, so it would have been hard to use them. 

“When the pandemic hit in 2020 and we cleaned out the lockers in the school, we found that less than 10% of them were actually being used,” said Vocational Principal Joe McGinnis. 

After over a year of not using lockers due to the pandemic, they decided it was easier and more beneficial without them. It showed them that the amount of lockers we had was far greater than what was actually needed.

When the pandemic hit, students went online. When they came back from online classes, they continued to do work on chromebooks since it was easier. So, lockers were much more beneficial before students had chromebooks.

“The lockers and locker bays were not being used for their intended purpose,” said counselor Jason Corey. “I believe that the removal is a good thing. We need to put more classrooms in place, and the disciplinary numbers have dropped a large amount without them. They were being used for more bad than good.”

Removing the lockers will give us much needed classroom space. Many teachers do not have their own room. In addition to that, many teachers are displaced every hour due to someone else needing to use their classroom. 

Adding more classrooms will not only help the classroom shortage problems, but will also allow for more flexibility in scheduling classes.

“We will be removing the majority of lockers,” said McGinnis.  “However, we will still have the small locker bays available for students who request a locker. It is truly a best of both worlds scenario.”