Parents surveyed on mandatory school uniforms

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

Surveys were mailed to parents of students at 16 schools Tuesday as Clark County School District officials prepare to gauge community support for mandatory uniforms.

The Clark County School Board revised its dress code regulation in November, adding a provision to allow schools to institute stricter policies provided parents are surveyed and 55 percent of respondents show support. The surveys, which are being conducted by the district's division of research, accountability and innovation, must be repeated every four years.

The revised regulation comes after months of bickering and debate at community forums and School Board meetings. Public sentiment has appeared evenly divided between those who believe stricter dress codes lead to safer campuses where students focus more on their studies than on the latest fashion trends and those who argue public schools are no place for uniforms, particularly when there have been no definitive studies showing a link to improved student achievement.

The 16 schools had instituted "Dress for Success" or "standard student attire" policies without first surveying families. Under the revised regulation, those campuses were allowed to continue for the remainder of the current academic year provided families were allowed "opt out" of having their children participate.

Schools interested in establishing a standard student attire policy for the first time must wait until spring to survey families and may not adopt the dress code requirement until the 2005-06 academic year begins in August.

There are also nine elementary schools that surveyed families before joining a pilot study of mandatory uniforms. Those schools have been allowed to continue the mandatory policy uninterrupted although a new survey must be conducted in four years.

Liberty High School was the first campus in the district to adopt a standard attire policy, requiring students to wear khaki-colored bottoms and solid-colored red, white or blue shirts. A challenge of the school's policy -- filed by the Nevada ACLU on behalf of a former Liberty student who was disciplined for repeatedly wearing T-shirts bearing religious messages -- is pending in federal court.

If survey results show at least 55 percent of respondents favor the stricter dress code, schools will be allowed to resume the mandatory policy when the new semester begins Jan. 24, said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the district.

Per the district's regulation, the survey consists of a single question. It asks whether parents support the school adopting a standard student attire policy. Pro and con statements -- drafted by central office staff -- as well as a description of the attire that would be allowed was also included.

"We are giving families a balanced view of the advantages and disadvantages to standard student attire," Orci said Tuesday.

Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU, said he has heard reports of principals lobbying heavily in favor of school uniforms, using the campus address system and letters sent home to parents.

"Families are being told if they really care about their kids they'll support uniforms," Peck said. "This is not what anyone would consider a fair and unbiased survey process."

The Nevada ACLU -- along with some community members -- has also taken issue with the threshold of support that schools must meet. A high school with 3,000 students could have just 10 surveys returned, and provided 55 percent of those 10 surveys support uniforms the policy would be implemented, Peck said.

Visitors to Findlay Middle school's Web site find a letter from Principal Tammy Malich, explaining the new regulation and survey process. The site also offers links to "supporting data" -- graphics prepared by the district's central office showing suspensions, classroom disruptions and insubordination decreased at the nine northeast region campuses following the stricter dress code.