Locker usage has decreased at North as more and more students see them as unnecessary.

“Students didn’t use lockers last year; I don’t think that many wanted lockers this year,” said Maya Chavez, Dean of Students. COVID restrictions last year meant that students were not allowed to use lockers.

Currently, 1373 students at North have a locker, out of the nearly 2000 total students, a notable fall from previous years. North has nearly 3900 lockers. However, many students decided to not have a locker assigned to them. Even among students who do have lockers, many do not use theirs.

“I don’t even know where my locker is at,” said Jaedon Boeck, senior.

Some students planned on using their locker, but found that theirs is too far away from their classes to be useful.

“I used my locker for the first two days of school and have not touched it since,” said Will Deutmeyer, sophomore. 

Another reason why students are not using lockers is that many students find it more convenient to bring what they need with them during the day.

“I can just carry everything in my backpack,” said Max Fang, sophomore.

Administration has noticed the decrease in the usage of lockers.

“There has not been a plan already proposed…but it is something we will visit either at the end of the semester or second semester right before the end of the year,” said Chavez.

Changes could possibly be made to how lockers are assigned to students.

“We’ll talk about the assigning of lockers, who gets them and where,” said Chavez.

Of the 1373 students who have lockers, 476 of them are freshmen. All freshmen at North share a locker with another freshman; however, administration may consider changing this.

“Now with the numbers being so low, we might look at is that something that we still need,” said Chavez.

More freshmen have a locker than any other class, followed by seniors, 434 of which have lockers. 305 sophomores have a locker and only 158 juniors have a locker.

With winter approaching, however, cold weather could impact locker usage.

“I anticipate locker usage going up because of winter,” said Chavez.

As students start to bring jackets and other cold weather gear to school, they may decide to start using a locker.

“I’ve only used my locker once this year,” said Fang. “But I’m planning on using my locker soon, when I bring a winter coat to school.”

Students can find their locker number and combination under the registration tab of their Home Access Center.