Bill would require public school uniforms

By Cy Ryan

Monday, Nov. 17, 2008 | 10:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY – All public school students will be wearing uniforms next year, if state Sen. Bob Coffin has his way.

“We’ve got to get the kids’ egos in check,” says Coffin, D-Las Vegas.

Discipline is a problem in the schools, he said, and the students “flaunt their appearance as a sign of disobedience.”

The bill he’s asked be drafted for the 2009 Legislature would apply to grammar, middle and high schools.

Some of the schools in Clark County require it, said Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction. But a majority of parents at that school must approve it, he said.

No other state requires uniforms statewide, Rheault said. “It would be somewhat unique.”

Coffin said he tried this 20 years ago and could not get it passed. Since then, the discipline problem has escalated.

“Schools who have tried this find it successful,” he said.

The schools could design the uniform in their school colors. And buying these uniforms would be cheaper for parents than some of the expensive jeans and shirts they now purchase, he said. And there would be no stigma for the student, as there now for not wearing certain clothes.

There’s a saying that “Clothes make the man” and that is in part true, said Coffin.