Some public schools weigh mandatory uniform policy

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

Her bell-bottom jeans fashionably faded, sixth grader Alyssa Reinhart grimaced at the thought of trading her white Old Navy T-shirt with pink trimming for a blouse with a Peter Pan collar.

"Uniforms would be awful," Reinhart said Tuesday at Greenspun Junior High School in Henderson, where parents are considering a proposal to make uniforms mandatory. "I like to go shopping and pick out my own clothes."

"Girls have to look cute," said 13-year-old Shayna Chavez, clad in faded bell-bottom jeans and a green jersey sweatshirt. "I want to look good for my boyfriend."

Uniforms would make it more difficult for boys to figure out "what kind of bodies" the girls have, several boys said.

"Those long skirts are ugly," said Javy Perez, 12, whose jeans, gelled hair and oversized shirt mirrored the four other boys gathered in the after-school crowd. "I don't want to look at that."

Six elementary schools and two junior high schools in the southeastern region of the Clark County School District are polling parents to gauge support for a mandatory uniform policy. Students would be required to wear khaki, blue and white clothing in approved styles. Jeans would be banned.

The issue has split parents, students, educators and civil rights advocates who differ on whether clothes really make the student. While some schools in Clark County have optional uniforms, the schools in the county's southeastern region would be the first in the county and the state to mandate uniforms if the plan moves ahead.

Since the mid-1990s a number of schools throughout the district have adopted voluntary uniform policies. Student participation ranges from campus to campus, school officials say. The Nevada Legislature last year revised a state statute to give school districts the authority to make uniforms mandatory.

Carolyn Reedom, assistant superintendent for the southeast region, said if there's enough support from parents, a mandatory uniform proposal could be brought to the school board later this year.

"We know that uniforms have a positive impact on student morale, student achievement and student behavior," Reedom said. "When students are in uniform, the environment is clearly better."

Across the country uniforms are moving out of the private and parochial schools and into the public school classrooms, according to the U.S. Department of Education. School districts credit the uniforms with decreasing on-campus violence, theft and discouraging gang activity. Parents save money on clothes because fewer changes of clothing are needed for school and there's less emphasis on designer duds, educators say.

The Philadelphia School District, one of the nation's largest with 212,000 students, began its mandatory uniform policy in the fall of 2000.

"Uniforms are not going to make kids smart or make schools safer," said Paul Hanson, spokesman for the Philadelphia School District. "It will institute a better atmosphere in the schools. It reminds kids that their job is to come to school and learn."

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU's Southern Nevada office, called the policy "misguided and unconstitutional."

"It will be a divisive issue that will distract attentions and energies away from efforts to deal in a meaningful way with the very real and serious challenges the school district faces," Peck said, noting that he has received several phone calls and one letter from parents concerned about the uniform proposal.

School officials would be better off focusing on problems such as classroom overcrowding and teacher shortages, Peck said.

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada, said clothing can be a form of self expression, which is a right students are entitled to exercise.

John Geckler, whose son Jacob is a sixth grader at Greenspun, said he was "vehemently opposed" to school uniforms.

"It's just another way for our government to take over society and dictate what we do," Geckler said.

Edward Goldman, superintendent of the 56 schools in the southeast region of the Clark County School District, said courts across the country have already supported the constitutionality of mandatory uniforms. He said schools aren't forced to participate. The elementary schools taking part in the survey already have some form of voluntary uniform code, and the junior high schools are participating because some parents have expressed interest, Goldman said.

"We intend to work community by community on this," Goldman said. "If a particular community doesn't want school uniforms, they won't have them."

Allissa Perusse, 12, said while she would prefer to choose her own school clothes, uniforms might make things easier for some of her classmates at Greenspun Junior High.

"Some girls get teased because of what they wear, because they don't look good enough," Allissa said. "I don't get teased, but I sort of feel bad for the girls who do."

Katrina Casper, 12, said even though it takes her up to an hour to choose her clothes for school each day she wouldn't want to wear a uniform.

"I don't think we should all have to look alike," Katrina said.

Katrina's mother, Debi Casper, said Tuesday she was in favor of the new policy.

"It will save money for the parents" Casper said, "and decrease rivalry between the kids."