Moms Q & A: How do parents feel about uniforms?

How do moms in Danbury feel about the idea of uniforms for the middle schools?

Patch interviewed moms, dads and kids about how they felt about the idea. Very few were opposed, and even those who were, were not completely opposed. Here are their responses.

Lori Bement, Mom's Q & A council member, said, “I think the idea is great. Kids are naturally creative and need their own ways to express their personality but sometimes they take their clothing to extremes. If they wore uniforms, they might channel their creativity in different, more productive ways. There is too much pressure for all kids to have the same clothes.”

Anne Murray, mom of a seven-year-old son, said, “I don't like the idea because it reminds me of Catholic school. I loved when I went to high school and got to wear what I want.”

Jamie Silva, father of a nine-year-old daughter said, “I think uniforms should be mandatory, there are too many choices and not all of them are good. They are going to school to learn, not for fashion. I understand that kids want to dress creatively. Maybe they should dress in uniforms four days a week and have one casual day like they do in many businesses.”

Eighth grade student Kaitlyn Rotkewicz said, “It would be easier instead of having to pick out clothes. Uniforms will just be hanging in your closet, you will not have to think about what to wear. I wanted to go to a school with uniforms. Kids pick on other kids if they don't have nice clothes, not so much in middle school, but in elementary school they did. Kids can be mean, but if everyone wore uniforms, no one would know who was who.”

Taylor Paris, a seventh grade boy, said, “I don't like the idea. Kids should be free with what they wear. Clothes tell your personality.”

What do the studies say?

During last week's school board meeting, Superintendent Sal Pascarella, Ph.D., said that he would not support the enforcement of a strict uniform policy and that doing so would open the door to a lawsuit.

While there have been cases where uniforms in public schools have been supported in court, the overwhelming majority of these cases have involved schools that had a gang problem. However, for those in Danbury who have their heart set on uniforms in public schools, there have been the occasional cases where other reasons have been upheld.

There are several things to consider if pursuing a policy of uniforms is to be successful. First and foremost, parents across the board must support the policy. If many parents refuse to support it, the policy could cause strife that might divide the school, which would be bad for school morale and could actually incite violence, even if none existed before. For instance, ten students whose parents insist they wear uniforms might grow intolerant of one student who does not wear them.

It would be important for parents to have a clear understanding of what the policy would entail, and there would most likely have to have an opt-out, just as had Pascarella said. While many parents fear that an opt-out clause would undermine the reasons for having a uniform in the first place, most public schools and courts do require it.

In Arizona, a school district was able to legally avoid the opt-out clause by providing other public education, such as evening and adult education classes. However, this could only work in a high school situation, and interestingly enough, most schools only have uniform policies in elementary and middle school.

There are links to many sites and well researched papers that show that uniforms rarely have the intended effect. One site said, “Uniforms are a band-aid for bigger problems.”

Another site said that enforcing a policy of uniforms is like painting a wall in a school. Everything might look better, but the problems still exist. If children express anger, rebellion, disrespect and more, they may have the same reaction to uniforms.

However, some schools have found that having uniforms does have a psoitive effect. The school district most often researched is the Long Beach Unified School District. From the Ed.gov Manual of School Uniforms, “District officials found that in the year following implementation of the school uniform policy, overall school crime decreased 36 percent, fights decreased 51 percent, sex offenses decreased 74 percent, weapons offenses decreased 50 percent, assault and battery offenses decreased 34 percent, and vandalism decreased 18 percent. Fewer than one percent of the students have elected to opt out of the uniform policy.

Dick Van Der Laan of the Long Beach Unified School District explained, "We can't attribute the improvement exclusively to school uniforms, but we think it's more than coincidental." According to Long Beach police chief William Ellis, "Schools have fewer reasons to call the police. There's less conflict among students. Students concentrate more on education, not on who's wearing $100 shoes or gang attire."

It is important to know that the school was also undergoing an overhaul of many of it's policies and also instituted other unifying and anti-bullying programs as well.  All research that sites Long Beach makes reference to the fact that the school district went through many other changes at the same time.

For those who are not sold on the idea, some studies recommend that instead of uniforms, a good anti-bullying curriculum might be instituted and schools should stringently follow existing dress codes. While there are those who say there is no bullying in Danbury Schools, girls in middle school say that it is a problem and is often associated with clothing.

In last week's Board of Education meeting, Robert Taborsak said that he did not see dress codes being enforced at Danbury High. Susan LeRoy, another school board member suggested that teachers need to follow a dress code as much as the students do.

One article said that uniforms for students while teachers wore their own clothing set up a boundary between the two. Would it be more difficult to inspire students to wear uniforms if teachers were not following the dress codes themselves?

Perhaps another option might be for parents and the Board of Education to reexamine the dress code,  determine exactly what the clothing limits should be, and for that plan to be enforced.

Below are several links for any who would like to read the research. The first one is from www.ed.gov and is compelling reading for any parent who has questions. The second takes a long (very long) look at the question, all of which is summed up and concluded nicely on the last two pages. If you haven't had your fill by the third link, go for it. By the time you finish that one, you will be an expert on the subject.

To read Manual of School Uniforms,  click    here

To read Uniforms and Dress Code Policies, click here.

To read Developing a Common Faith and Ethic for School Safety, click here

To read Effects of Student Uniforms on Attendance, Behavior Problems and Acdemic Achievement, Click  here