THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503240206
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 30 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SURRY LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Once again, school-issued uniforms have been pushed to the back of the closet in Surry County.
A proposal that could have had students sporting school uniforms as early as next year was shot down by parents last week, said Rita Holmes, a Surry school administrator and chairman of the Surry County Uniform Committee.
After spending four months studying the feasibility of a uniform policy, the committee asked parents to vote on whether they would support a dress code.
Of the 230 parents who voted, 57 percent were against any sort of uniform policy, said Holmes. She estimated 800 parents were eligible to vote.
On the survey, most parents favoring a uniform policy believed participation should be voluntary and limited to the elementary school level, she added.
``This started off as a parent issue and it will end as a parent issue,'' Holmes said. ``The initial interest in uniforms came from parents and the School Board used this committee as an avenue to see if they were really what parents wanted.
``The parents have spoken. They said no to uniforms . . . so as far as the School Board is concerned, it will say no as well.''
The uniform committee will present its finding to the School Board Tuesday Holmes said. Due to the lack of parental support, the board is not likely to take any further action on the school-uniform issue.
This is the second time Surry County parents have voted down a proposal for school uniforms. The school division looked into it about five years ago but dropped it because of poor parental support, Holmes said.
KEYWORDS: SURRY COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD UNIFORMS by CNB