Student uniforms for 16 schools canceled

Monday, June 13, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.

Plans to make student uniforms mandatory at 16 campuses in August have been canceled after Clark County School District officials determined the required deadline for notifying parents had been missed.

District Regulation 3151 allows schools to adopt "standard student attire" policies provided families are surveyed and at least 55 percent of the returned ballots are in favor of the change. Schools are then required to notify parents of the policy change by May 1 for the following academic year.

Families of students at 18 schools were sent surveys this spring seeking support for the switch to a stricter dress code. Of those schools, 16 campuses got the minimum 55 percent support or greater. The schools are spread out in the northeast, southeast, southwest and east regions of the district. The fifth region, the northwest, did not have any campuses interested in adopting the policy.

The survey results were released April 28, giving schools only a few days to prepare notification for parents by the May 1 cutoff.

The four regional superintendents met with Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction, the following week and agreed to halt implementation of the mandatory policies.

"We have to abide by our own regulations," said Allen Coles, deputy superintendent of the southwest region which led the list with eight potential uniform campuses. "We weren't able to comply with the deadline so the decision was made not to go ahead at this point."

Students at "standard student attire" schools have a limited choice of clothing colors, fabrics and styles that may be worn. Blue jeans are not allowed at the high school level.

Of the seven elementary schools that passed the survey process to add mandatory uniforms, five will instead have voluntary "standard student attire" policies for the 2005-06 academic year. Two of the schools, Frias and the new Thiriot campus, have dropped all plans for the stricter dress code.

At the middle school level, only three of the five campuses, Brown, Orr and Monaco, are moving forward with voluntary uniform policies. Johnson and Lawrence junior high schools will not have "standard student attire" policies nor will Chaparral High School.

Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU, said he was pleased by the decision.

"It is heartening that finally the district seems to be willing and able to follow its own rules," said Peck, whose organization had previously filed a class- action lawsuit challenging the dress code regulation. "It's unfortunate that it has taken this long to do so and that it continues to play fast and loose and with other aspects of the uniform policy."

Peck said other concerns raised by the ACLU, including the low threshold for demonstrating parental support, remain.

Supporters of school uniforms say the stricter dress code creates a better learning environment, make differences between children from wealthier and poorer households less apparent and make it easier to spot trespassers. Opponents note that there have been no definitive studies linking attire to student achievement and say uniforms have no place in public education.

At Sandy Miller Elementary School, which had 123 surveys returned with 88.4 percent in favor of the policy, Principal Anne Grisham said she had been looking forward to adopting the mandatory policy for the 2005-06 academic year.

But she also knew about the May 1 deadline in the regulation, which fell on a Sunday this year.

"The timeline was very short," Grisham said. " We didn't get notification until late on Friday (April 29) that we'd made it."

When classes resume in August the uniform policy will be voluntary, as it was during the past school year, Grisham said. However, parents who want to opt out of having their children participate will have to meet with school administrators and sign a form, Grisham said.

So far only four parents have requested the forms, Grisham said.

"The majority of our parents are in favor of it," Grisham said. "We're expecting a high level of participation, even at the voluntary level."