While the locker lottery seemed to be a success for those in need of a locker, students at Cleveland who had a desire for one were faced with mild disappointment after hearing nothing back after Oct. 18, and there is little likelihood of any more lockers being released this year.

According to vice principal Danielle Cota, the administration recognizes the value and utility of lockers, but making more lockers available is more unlikely since Covid-19 protocols require lockers to fit a tight set of criteria. This criteria includes specifications such as not being in high foot-traffic areas, not making the person using the locker be pushed up against a wall or be in a crowded place, still allowing convenient access, and so on.

In return, this also created a lot of restrictions, for a lot of lockers. Compared to around 1700 people who are attending this year, there were only about 215 lockers being given out altogether.

We emailed the vice principal, Danielle Cota, asking if the administration would continue to release more lockers for use, and she replied, “If a student really needed one they could reach out via email, but the mass assignment has been done.”

The locker lottery solved the main issue by giving lockers to those who needed them the most, like athletes, woodshop workers, and people who have disabilities. As for access, the wide availability of lockers for those who just want one seems to be less likely to become true, mainly for the reasons mentioned earlier.

But how do some of the students feel about not getting a locker? Some freshmen did not even know there was a locker lottery at all.

“I wish that everybody could have one, also to decorate for birthdays or whatever, and they’re useful,” a freshmen named Sophia Pulliam replied, “but if I don’t get one, I won’t care very much and I would rather someone who really needs it have it than me.”

Some students would like one, but plan to make do without.

“I think I would be a little disappointed because it would be really helpful, especially on Fridays, but yeah, I can make do without a locker,” said Juliet Amaro.

Even though lockers have been a fair staple of utility in schools, students seemed to not be very bothered about carrying their bags to each class. To be fair, these are people who mainly wanted lockers for the sake of convenience.

Although the lottery was easy to sign up for, there were a handful of students who were quickly disappointed when the form asked what they wanted the locker for.

“There were questions like, ‘Are you part of a sport?’ or ‘Do you have a disability?’ So there was probably no chance that I would be getting it,” said Sophia Pulliam.

To conclude, the locker lottery was able to solve the requests and problems that many families had, but even though there are some last available lockers, future locker availability seems unlikely.