Did a school or college in the United States ban backpacks after a shooting?

Question

There's a story going around that an unnamed college in the United States banned backpacks after a shooting.

The lack of details is suspicious and it looks more like a wrongly-captioned prank at a high-school than anything else. It doesn't look like a college.

• Newsweek: Gun Fears See School Ban Backpacks, Forcing Students to Improvise With Random Items
  
• Independent.co.uk: Students use cart and aquarium to mock backpack ban after weapon found in school: ‘America will do anything but ban guns’
  
• Imgur: A college in the United States banned backpacks after a shooting. The students had to improvise..

What really happened?

Answer 1

Not a college.

In response to an incident in a middle school (13 year old kids,) a school district in Idaho banned backpacks in the local schools. It affected middle schools (grade 7 and 8, kids 13 and 14 years old) and highschools (grades 9 through 12, kids 15 to 18 years old.)

From the article in The Independent:

Idaho’s Jefferson School District enacted the ban following the discovery of a gun in a girl’s backpack at Rigby Middle School, four months after a shooting at the same school in May left three injured.

Following that lead, you can find many further articles discussing the event, including this one from the East Idaho News explaining that the ban has been somewhat relaxed - backpacks with a clear panel are allowed.

From the East Idaho News article:

The decision was announced in an email from Rigby Middle School Principal Richard Howard sent to parents Friday morning. A district spokesperson said further information will be released about all secondary schools in the near future.

“We are permitting clear backpacks to be used at Rigby Middle School to transport school materials to and from school,” Howard wrote in the email.

“Backpacks may be inspected at any time by the school and are to be kept in student lockers during the school day.”