Coweta

parents may want to add one last item to the Christmas

list this year - clear or mesh book bags.

When

students return to school Jan. 10, only those two types

of book bags will be allowed in the county's middle

schools and high schools.

Last

spring, the Coweta County Board of Education passed a

policy allowing only clear and mesh bags. The vote came

after the Columbine shooting, and board members and the

superintendent made it clear that the policy was being

adopted as a safety measure.

The new

style book bags allow principals and school officials to

view contents of the bags and are a deterrent to students

bringing items to school that are not allowed on campus,

officials said.

The clear

book bags are the latest example of the school system

trying to prevent any violent activities in the school.

According to superintendent of education Richard Brooks

the system also:

- Conducts system and

school safety surveys which identify possible trouble

areas.

- Studies our schools

for various kinds of potential trouble and makes

recommendations for improvement through an ongoing safety

committee.

- Assigns law

enforcement-trained student resource officers full-time

to each high school and part-time to each middle school.

This person is a regular law enforcement, badge-wearing

individual specially trained in student concerns.

- Has student resource

officers provide training to school faculties regarding

student violence, gang-related membership and activity,

and spotting weapons at school.

- Allows resource

officers to assist in providing training to spot students

who match the profiles of those students in school

violence cases.

- Has school

administrators stay in constant and immediate contact

with each other via hand-held radios.

- Uses surveillance

cameras in hallways and high traffic areas in some

schools.

- Uses hand-held metal

detectors when appropriate.

- Uses radio contact

and surveillance cameras on buses.

- Requires all school

visitors to sign in at the principal's office and wear a

visitor's badge while on campus.

- Requires students

and faculty in high schools to register vehicles with the

school's student resource officer.

- Provides a panic

button in each classroom which provides immediate

communication with the office.

But Brooks explained that

these measures also need the support of the parents.

"Become a mentor first

to your own child, and if you have additional time and

concern, become a mentor to a student who needs your

compassion and support. In every instance of school

killings, the suspects have been profiled as loners,

outcasts and students without much self-esteem and

hope," he said.