Administrators at Bernice McDowell Elementary School in Detroit notified parents this week that bedbugs were discovered at the school, and as a result, students were asked to leave their backpacks at home and instead to keep their items in a clear plastic bag. Principal Lynne Borg said that school officials are clueless as to where the bedbugs came from, but they want to take every precaution to avoid spreading them to the children.

As well intentioned as this seems, this does set a worrying precedent. Obviously students can (and should) be prohibited from carrying weapons on school  grounds, but backpacks cause no harm to anyone, no one is threatened by someone with a backpack, and once backpacks are banned, where does it end? Next thing you know, they’ll be banning lunch boxes and pencils.