Uniforms back on school agenda

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

The debate over whether Clark County School District campuses should be allowed to establish mandatory uniform policies is headed for another round.

School Board members will vote Thursday on the future of uniform policies in the district -- the third time in a month that the issue has been raised.

A 2-year-old pilot study of mandatory uniforms at five Henderson elementary schools has been called a success, with campus administrators reporting fewer disciplinary problems, better attendance and higher test scores.

But opponents of school uniforms say the improvements are based on a combination of factors and there is no evidence that clothing alone makes a difference.

At their May 27 meeting School Board members rejected a proposal to end the pilot study and allow any school in the district to establish a mandatory uniform policy, provided the parents were surveyed and showed support. And last week the School Board approved letting four southeast region elementary schools -- Bennett, Harmon, Hummel and Taylor -- sign on to the pilot study.

Each school had to show at least 70 percent of families approved of a mandatory uniform policy, with at least 51 percent of surveys returned.

Board Vice President Larry Mason has backed off his original proposal to have the word "mandatory" dropped from the district's uniform policy, a move that would have essentialy ended the pilot study. His new motion, up for a vote on Thursday's agenda, asks that the uniform policy --whether mandatory or voluntary -- be confined to the district's southeast region.

"I wanted to have more room for negotiation and compromise," Mason said Tuesday.

Mason, represents District D, which includes neighborhoods surrounding McCarran International Airport and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and sections of the district's southeast region.

Mason said he doesn't believe a mandatory uniform policy is necessary.

The district already has dress code requirements on the books, banning things such as facial piercings, navel-baring shirts, low-rise pants and items linked to gang affiliations, Mason said.

"I'm sure it's easier to take a quick look at a kid and say, 'Is he wearing navy and khakis,' " Mason said. "But you don't write a new regulation to get around having to carry out a regulation that's already there."

If the other School Board members are determined to see the uniform policy continue, Mason said, it should be confined to the southeast region --the only region that has shown interest in taking part.

Denise Murray, principal of C.T. Sewell Elementary School, said there has been significant improvements in the year since the Henderson campus joined the pilot study. Last year the school failed to show "adequate yearly progress" on standardized tests as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This year the entire school made gains and avoided being tagged as "needing improvement" by the state education department, Murray said.

"Uniforms are good for schools, especially when you're dealing with a high rate of poverty," said Murray, whose school counts 94 percent of its students as coming from low-income families.

"With uniforms, children are on a level playing field. We have a supply of extra outfits that our vendors give us, and we share those with students who need them."

Deanna Wright, whose son just finished fourth grade at Taylor, said she is frustrated not only by the proposed policy but with what she called "bait and switch" maneuvers by district officials.

The original regulation establishing the pilot study required families to be notified prior to the end of school year. But Taylor's academic year finished June 17, Wright said. In their vote approving the four additional schools for the pilot study, the School Board also allowed that timetable to be changed, requiring schools to tell parents of the mandatory uniform policy no later than a month before the start of the next academic year.

"They've (the school) had these surveys since the middle of December, but they waited until the last minute to spring this on us," Wright said. "I feel like they waited until school was out and everyone was on vacation because they knew parents wouldn't be paying as much attention."

Wright said she might feel differently about a mandatory uniform policy if Taylor were a struggling school.

"If we were hearing year after year about low academic achievement and teachers fighting with students about dress code and going to the region and the School Board again and again asking for help, that would be different," Wright said. "But this has nothing to do with what the parents or the community wants, it's what the region and the school administration wants."