School Uniforms

School Uniforms

A safe and structured learning environment is the first requirement of a good

school. Children who feel safe and secure will better learn basic

values. In return they will learn the basis of good citizenship and become

better students. In response to growing levels of violence in our schools, many

parents, teachers, and school officials have been forced to look toward school

uniforms as one potentially positive way to reduce discipline problems and

increase school safety.

It has been observed that the adoption of school uniform policies can promote

school safety, improve discipline, and enhance the learning environment. The

potential benefits of school uniforms include decreasing violence and theft.

Some instances involving designer clothing and expensive sneakers have even led

to life-threatening situations among students. Uniforms would also prevent gang

members from wearing gang colors and insignia at school. Uniforms would also

teach students discipline and help them resist peer pressure. Uniforms would

also help students concentrate on their schoolwork and would help school

officials detect intruders who come unwelcome into the school.

As a result, many local communities are deciding to adopt school uniform

policies as part of an overall program to improve school safety and discipline.

California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Tennessee,

Utah and Virginia have enacted school uniform regulations. Many large public

school systems including Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Los Angeles,

Long Beach, Miami, Memphis, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle

and St. Louis have schools with either voluntary or mandatory uniform policies,

mostly in elementary and middle schools. In addition, many private schools have

required uniforms for a number of years. Still other schools have implemented

dress codes to encourage a safe environment by prohibiting clothes with certain

language or gang colors.

The decision to adopt a uniform policy must be made by states and local school

districts. For uniforms to be a success, as with all other school initiatives,

parents must be involved. We must get the parents involved with the uniform

policies from the beginning. Their support of the uniform policy is critical to its success. The strongestpush for school uniforms in recent years has come from parent groups who want better discipline in their children's schools. Parent groups have actively lobbied schools to create

uniform policies and have often led school task forces that have drawn up uniform

guidelines. Many schools that have successfully created a uniform policy survey

parents first to gauge support for school uniform requirements and then seek the

parent's opinions in designing the uniform. Parent support is also essential in

encouraging students to wear the uniform.

A school uniform policy must protect students' religious expression. A school

uniform policy must accommodate students whose religious beliefs are greatly

burdened by a uniform requirement. As U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W.

Riley stated in Religious Expression in Public Schools, a guide he sent to

superintendents throughout the nation on August 10, 1995:

Students may display religious messages on items of clothing to the same extent

that they are permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages

may not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same rules

as generally apply to comparable messages. When wearing particular attire, such as

Yarmulkes and head scarves, during the school day is part of students' religious

practice, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act schools generally may not

prohibit the wearing of such items.

A uniform policy must protect students' other rights of expression. It must not

prohibit students from wearing or displaying expressive items. For example, a

button that supports a political candidate should be allowed as long as such

items do not contribute to disruption by substantially interfering with

discipline or with the rights of others. A uniform policy must also prohibit

students from wearing a button bearing a gang