Sunday, October 16, 2011

FAQ About School Uniforms (Updated)


Here's some answers to frequently asked questions about school uniforms. (This is an updated version of the original FAQ that was published during the 2007 fight over school uniforms in Flagler schools.)

Q. Do uniforms improve school security?

Proponents of uniforms argue that having kids dressed in uniforms will make it easy to spot someone who doesn’t belong at the school. This is incorrect for several reasons.

1. U.S. courts have ruled that to be constitutional, public school uniform policies must have a parental “opt-out” clause. Children with disabilities may also be excluded from uniform policies to accommodate their needs. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that 100% of the students at any school will be wearing the uniform, effectively erasing the effect of making an intruder immediately visible since there will always be a small percentage of students out of uniform.
2. If uniforms are simply store-bought items in certain colors, they can be easily obtained by anyone who wishes to enter a school, camouflaging them and allowing them to blend into the student body.
3. Even if uniforms are mandated as utilizing specific shirts with embroidered logos, they are still difficult to identify from a distance, still making it easy for someone to blend into a crowd. Also, the use of embroidered shirts negate any arguable cost savings that uniform proponents could claim. (see next question).
4. While it is true that wearing of similar clothing makes keeping groups together on field trips easier, this can be done in much simpler ways than requiring uniforms everyday of the entire school year when kids may take field trips only 2-3 days per school year. For instance, it is currently done at BTES by having the kids purchase class t-shirts for about $10 that they are requested to wear on field trip days and for other special events. Kids who join the class after the t-shirt purchase date are requested to wear a shirt the same color as the purchased shirt on field trip days.
5. Adult intruders are a major source of security concern at schools, particularly at the elementary schools. Unless teachers are also required to wear the uniform, a uniform policy for students does nothing to address that security concern. Even if teachers were required to wear a uniform, the constant stream of volunteers and parents in and out of the schools, not wearing uniforms, means there would always be people in the buildings not wearing uniforms for an intruder to blend in with.

Uniform advocates also claim that student-on-student violence decreases, and gang activity is prevented, when uniforms are required to be worn by students. No credible, conclusive research supports these claims. As researchers at the University of Notre Dame pointed out in their study on the subject of school uniforms, case studies that claim to show successes from implementing uniform policies in schools cannot show a clear cause-effect relationship between the uniform policies and the school improvements. The changes in the schools can almost certainly be credited to other events that took place at the same time the uniforms were implemented, or simply to the attention that was focused on the school’s problems by the implementation of the uniform policy. There is no research to support the idea that the actual wearing of uniforms actually causes an improvement in student behavior or security.

Q. Are uniforms cheaper and easier for parents?

Uniforms are simpler and easier in one way: assuming that your child’s uniform is clean and in their closet in the morning, there can be no arguments about what to wear to school once the child understands that uniforms are the rule. But that one possible advantage is outweighed by several downsides in both hassle and cost.

Cost savings is the most frequent argument put forward to support uniforms. Buying some cheap pants and shirts for kids for school rather than the wardrobes they wear now might sound less expensive but in fact for most families it will increase their wardrobe costs. This would be especially true if embroidered shirts, expensive compared to discount store polo shirts, were required as part of the uniforms, or for kids were hard to fit, requiring slim, tall, or plus sizes. And the costs would be especially huge the first year uniforms were implemented, when every family in town would be starting from scratch with no hand-me-downs or leftovers from the previous year that still fit, and no available used clothes for purchase. It's no coincidence that the local Chamber of Commerce supported implementing uniforms in 2007. They stood to make buckets of money from the measure.

Very few kids are going to want to wear their uniforms after school. This will be especially true for older, more fashion-conscious kids. They will end up needing their uniform wardrobe as well as an after-school wardrobe – two whole wardrobes instead of just one.

In many families, like mine, using clothing as gifts for birthdays and holidays cuts clothes shopping budgets. Outfits or clothes store gift cards are practical gifts that the kids still love to get. Somehow, though, I doubt that most kids would be thrilled to receive school uniforms from Nana for Christmas, or would want to spend their birthday gift card from the Gap on khakis and golf shirts they can wear to school.

Also, don't forget about the laundry problems brought along with uniforms. Uniforms would end up generating twice as much laundry (and thus costs from higher water & electric bills and the need to purchase more detergent) for most families, since most kids would wear two outfits in a day instead of one. Also, if only a very limited set of clothes could be worn to school, there would have to be constant vigilance to ensure that those clothes were clean for wearing. This would mean more frequent laundry quite probably for most households.

Q. Are uniforms easier to enforce than a dress code?

Contrary to popular belief, dress code rules still need to be part of uniform policies. Enforcement of uniform policies is not a black-and-white “either you are wearing the uniform or you are not” decision with no gray area to interpret. Even if it is dictated what color pants and what kind of shirts are to be worn, there still needs to be dress code rules about what constitutes pants that are too tight or too loose, skirts and shorts that are too short, shirts that are see-through or too tight, etc. Uniforms do not remove the need for school staff to police these sorts of gray areas in the uniform policy. It just dictates what colors of shirts and pants they are looking at when they do it, and adds yet another layer of clothing enforcement to rules that are already being policed by school staff. So, it actually makes enforcement more complex instead of less complex, because there are more rules to enforce.

Q. Do uniforms make kids more equal socially?

Uniform supporters like to believe that promoting “sameness” in appearance through uniforms will encourage kids to look past each others’ external appearance and instead at each others’ characters. This is unfortunately not realistic. In fact, uniforms don't prevent social stratification and can actually promote it in some cases.

Even with a strictly mandated uniform, children from families with more money will still be apparent. Their uniforms will be higher quality, not as worn out or stained, and will fit better. Their accessories like shoes, watches, school bags, and haircuts will be more expensive and better maintained. These will still be noticed among the children and a class system by financial status will still be in place.

Judgments being made by looks will still happen, and could even be increased and emphasized by uniforms. Certain kids, who look good in anything, will still look good in uniforms. Kids whose body type or coloring is not suited to the uniform's color or cut will be forced into wearing unflattering clothes everyday with no way to dress themselves in a more flattering way like they could if they had more options. (Think about going into any workplace that requires uniforms and how some people look perfectly fine in the uniform and other people look terrible in it.)

The social scene for most children extends well outside the school doors. Social judging and "classing" will happen in those contacts outside school, and will not simply be left behind the moment everyone walks through the doors in their school uniforms. That is a reality of life for our children that school uniforms cannot change.

Q: Do uniforms prevent gang activity?

A frequent justification for uniforms is that mandating the wearing of uniforms prevents gangs from operating in a school because they cannot display their typical clothing signals. The reality is that gangs adapt and adopt signals that can be used within the dress code: accessories, hand signals, tattoos, etc. If gangs can operate in the highly controlled environment of a prison, a school uniform policy isn't going to slow them down. The only effect of uniforms on gang activity is that the uniforms and use of less obvious signs by the members makes them blend in more to the school's population - making them more difficult for school personnel to spot and monitor.

Q: Do uniforms improve kids' grades?

A major argument for uniforms is that they “enhance the learning environment.” However, there is no credible and conclusive research that supports that argument. Studies at both Notre Dame and Michigan State University both concluded that uniforms did not improve the learning environment.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

A Victory For Parents Rights

The Flagler County School Board voted 3-2 tonight to rescind their previous vote to require district students to wear school uniforms beginning with the 2008-2009 school year. The motion was presented by board member Evie Shellenberger, seconded by Peter Palmer. The third vote in support was from board chairwoman Colleen Conklin.

Board members Charles Gambaro and Sue Dickinson were extremely opposed to rescinding the previous action.

The board as a whole expressed their continued belief in the positive effects of uniforms and encouraged Supt. Delbrugge to bring them initiatives from PTO's and SAC's at individual schools that would like to go ahead with uniform plans in their buildings.

This fight is not over but has simply moved to a new jurisdiction. Parents who want to keep uniforms out of their schools will have to continue to be vigilant regarding the actions of the PTO and SAC committees at their childrens' schools.

It was evident from the board's discussion tonight that they continue to have no real concept of the impact that uniforms would have on the real families within this district. I was also extremely disappointed in the statements made by several board members regarding the parent contact that they have received (or not received) on this issue. Ms. Dickinson, in particular, seems to have a serious case of amnesia about events that have transpired and about contacts that she has received from members of the public. Another disappointment throughout this entire process has been the lack of response from the board to attempts to contact them - unless you are a potentially powerful political ally like the chairwoman of the local board of realtors. (My thanks to board member Peter Palmer for being the exception to that rule.)

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Is the fight against uniforms almost won?

According to an article in the News-Journal today, the fight against uniforms in Flagler Schools may be almost won. The school board meeting on Tuesday night at 6pm will be an important one, with the divided board having to reach a final decision.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

It's Crunch Time!

It's down to the wire on school uniforms!

At the workshop on Monday night, the board debated for hours about what to do about the uniform policy. At their next board meeting, they either must adopt an actual policy or vote to repeal the rule they passed requiring uniforms for the 2008-2009 school year.

Four of the school board members - Sue Dickinson, Colleen Conklin, Evie Shellenberger, and Charles Gambaro - claimed at the meeting Monday that they had not been contacted by any parents that were against school uniforms. Now is the time to change that! Their email addresses are listed in the side of this website - contact them and let your voices be heard. Peter Palmer, who has withdrawn his support for the board's uniform plan because he feels they have not gotten enough public input on it, would I'm sure love to hear from you in support of his thoughtful position as well.

The next board meeting, where this will be up for a final decision, will be on either the 28th or the 29th, in the evening. Currently the school board website lists a meeting on the morning of the 19th and a meeting on the evening of the 20th. The meeting on the 19th is a brief meeting at which not all the board members will be present, to reschedule the meeting from the 20th. When the final meeting date is determined I will post it here!

I will post more updates later about the drafts that the board is currently working with and will have available to them to vote on at the upcoming meeting.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Don't Forget: School Board Meeting Tues. at 6pm!

Don't forget the School Board meeting scheduled for 6pm tomorrow night (Tuesday the 16th) at the Government Services building in Bunnell. Agenda Item 8.04 is "Uniforms" so please be there to comment on uniforms for ESE students especially if you want the board to hear your opinion on this matter. The correct time to make this statement will be when the board asks near the beginning of the meeting for public comment on agenda items, since uniforms are on the agenda.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Promise

A clip from the end of Supt. Delbrugge's presentation at the July 11th town hall meeting in which he describes the plans to get parent input at all the schools, plus to hold "two or three" additional town hall meetings. (To my knowledge they have not held even one town hall meeting, unless you count the workshop on Monday which was not centered on getting public input.)

Empty Promises

Board Member Evie Shellenberger's comments at the July 11th town meeting, where she refers to the board's promise to get input from parents on the uniform code's design and responds to my earlier comments with a verbal head pat that the board will "take care of" the ESE students. Why do I have a hard time believing they know what is best for my child based on their recent track record?