Last year, as public shootings in the U.S. became a more obvious problem, more questions were raised about the safety of schools. One of Palo Verde’s solutions to these concerns was lanyards. Starting in early September of last year, students were required to wear a color-coded lanyard with their student ID.

“It was terrifying during that lockdown last year,” junior Ella Reynolds said. “We were huddled in a corner with minimal protection from a simple wooden desk.”

With the lanyards, teachers and administrators would easily be able to pick out which people were supposed to be at school and which people weren’t. At least, that was the idea. Instead, the lanyards became nothing more than a nuisance to students, a weakly enforced rule that few cared about and even fewer actually followed. This year, the lanyard rule was completely abandoned.

“We shouldn’t have had the lanyards,” junior Sona Shirinian said. “Teachers didn’t regulate who was wearing them. I didn’t feel like they protected us. It  just didn’t feel worth it.”

Although the lanyards were implemented to promote school safety, students found it difficult to get on board. Many felt that they were pointless, and teachers found it difficult to enforce the new rules. After only a few months of the lanyards being handed out, the rule was essentially forgotten about.

“How are the lanyards going to make us feel safer?” Reynolds said. “They didn’t stop the hard lockdown last year and I don’t feel like they would really help us.”

While there is no doubt that the lanyard rules were carried out to protect the students and create a better environment at Palo Verde, the widespread consensus among the student body is that they were a pointless rule that was more of an annoyance than a safety precaution. The school clearly meant well with the rules, but most students are happy to see them gone.

“I’m very happy we no longer have them,” senior Tyler Juhasz said. “They were completely useless and I don’t think we should’ve had them in the first place.”

For this school year, the policy is that students must have their IDs with them at school and be able to show them when asked. Students who still want to have a lanyard for their ID can ask for one when they receive their IDs.