THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603220250
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARK YOUNG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 248 lines
ENCOURAGING OR requiring students to wear school uniforms has swept the nation from Virginia Beach to Long Beach, Calif., creating a debate over how far dress codes should go.
Virginia Beach joined the national experiment last September when four public elementary schools - Seatack, Strawbridge, Thalia and Windsor Woods - each instituted voluntary uniform programs.
While the details and styles have been tailored to meet the individual needs of the four schools, the results largely have been uniform: the programs started strong last fall, but have since declined.
Principals at the participating schools maintain, however, that they will persist, and that the program's success is simply a matter of time.
On the first day of school this year at Thalia Elementary, participation reached 70 percent, said principal Caryl Felty. The other three schools were in the 50 to 60 percent range. Each of the schools started strong, and all still have their loyal uniform wearers, but compliance has declined overall.
While peer pressure can work to the advantage of a uniform program when compliance is the majority, the local schools have found it to be the double-edged sword that is harming their voluntary programs.
Even parents who helped their schools adopt the uniform are not immune.
Steve Shuga, who headed the subcommittee that helped choose Windsor Woods' uniform, recently relented to his fourth-grade daughter's wishes. ``Initially, she had no problem with it,'' he said. ``By mid-December, she would ask me why she had to wear it when the other kids weren't.''
At Seatack, the first of the schools to apply to and receive authorization from the School Board to begin a uniform program, 200 of Seatack's 450 students currently own uniforms, but participation there has also dropped to between 30 and 40 percent some days, officials say.
Figures from the other schools may be less reliable because their more generic uniforms could be more readily purchased or made up from the student's existing wardrobe.
At Thalia, where compliance is reportedly running at about 40 percent, the uniform offers a variety of choices - red, white or blue shirts and navy or black pants or skirts. But Seatack's uniform is more narrowly defined. Most students have ordered their uniforms from one vendor.
Another problem has been that the uniforms aren't as easily obtained now as they were during the summer and fall.
At J.C. Penney, the local merchant that has done the most to support the schools' programs, uniform purchases have been limited to catalog sales during the winter. Those wanting the official uniform must wait until their order arrives.
In addition to J.C. Penney, Hills has been named an official vendor for Thalia Elementary.
Officials at all four schools say they are pleased to see parents' attempts to comply with the voluntary policies regardless of where they may have purchased the clothes. Seatack officials expect their numbers to increase after a planned Uniform Swap night is held, at which parents may turn in or purchase more uniforms.
Lara and Todd Friel, whose daughter, Kelsey, is in kindergarten at Thalia, like the program. ``I thought it was a good idea - it breaks down barriers between the kids,'' Todd said. His wife appreciates the ease of getting her daughter dressed in the morning.
Susan Payne, who has sons in kindergarten and fourth grade at Thalia, decided not to participate in the voluntary program. Her boys were against it and Payne saw no reason to insist. ``In the situation here, not being mandatory, I didn't think it would work. If it was mandatory, we would have gone along.''
Payne said the difficulty of achieving compliance caused by the voluntary nature of the program has resulted in too much effort being placed on encouraging the use of uniforms and not enough on learning.
School officials readily acknowledge that setting up the programs has taken an enormous amount of time and energy. ``You have to be prepared to work at it,'' Thalia principal Felty said. ``It doesn't just happen. It takes work and nurturing to keep it alive.''
School administrators at the four participating schools said they wished the uniform programs could have been mandatory from the beginning.
After the schools had begun studying voluntary uniform programs, the General Assembly passed enabling legislation last year that allows school districts to adopt a mandatory policy.
``I'd like to see it mandatory because I think it's going to make a difference in achievement, indirectly, and in self-esteem and school pride,'' Seatack assistant principal Arthur McDonough said. ``Right now, the inconsistency is hurting the program - some wearing it, some not - some that do wear it don't wear it the full four days, because it's voluntary.''
Teachers with only a few students in their class wearing uniforms are hard-pressed to see any effects on their classroom's operation as a whole.
Strawbridge first-grade teacher Lori Perkinson, for example, sees only two or three students wearing uniforms out of her class of 24.
``It's dropped off since the beginning of the year,'' she said. ``I think it's because they don't see the other kids wearing them.''
But the time and effort plowed into the programs now could pay dividends later.
The four principals share similar aims for their programs but at each school the focus, like the uniforms themselves, is slightly different. At Seatack, the idea of unity and school pride are high on the list. Thalia principal Felty longs to see a more level playing field for the haves and have nots. Windsor Woods principal Drummond Ball seeks to improve his students' ability to focus on their studies rather than their classmates' appearance, while Strawbridge assistant principal Linda Sidone wants to build unity and create a sense of belonging among students. Though discipline is commonly thought of as a major reason for instituting a uniform program, none of the four schools listed it high among their goals.
Uniforms can be a highly emotional issue for some. Windsor Woods uniform committee member Steve Shuga said he received two anonymous ``hate calls'' while the program was forming.
One school principal told of starting a conversation with a teaching acquaintance only to have her burst into tears at the mention of uniforms. The friend recalled her own traumatic days of wearing an unflattering parochial school uniform as a child.
The formal complaints, however, have been few. Only about a dozen parents have spoken out against uniforms.
Principals and teachers point to several reasons to explain why the programs are not fully successful. All the schools find that fewer uniforms are worn on Wednesdays and Thursdays, most likely because students have to wait for their dirty uniforms to be washed, they said. At Seatack, it was recommended that parents purchase three complete uniforms to prevent this situation.
Another problem has been students outgrowing the uniforms.
Thalia plans to establish a uniform bank or exchange program, where parents can donate outgrown clothing and buy the size of used uniform that they need. Proceeds will go into a corporate sponsorship fund the school is setting up. Similar ideas are being planned at the other schools but have not been scheduled yet.
Strawbridge hopes to establish a recycle room for old uniforms. A parent of one of the school's special education students has offered to run a uniform shop to repair and resell the uniforms.
Parents with children in special education seem to be some of the programs' biggest supporters. More than 80 percent of those surveyed at Strawbridge supported uniforms.
In Linda Riley's special education class at Strawbridge, nine out of 10 students wear the uniform every day. ``Parents like them to dress in uniforms so they can be normalized as much as society will allow,'' she said. Riley describes her students as trainable mentally retarded. ``My kids tend to look different. In the uniforms, you don't notice the difference so much.''
At each of the schools, officials see this year as a building block for their programs. ``If we're consistent and persistent, we'll win out,'' said Windsor Woods principal Ball. He has told parents that ``uniforms are here to stay.''
The principals expect this to be a two- to three-year progression. Some voluntary programs nationwide tend to support their conclusion. At Pimlico Middle School in Baltimore, a voluntary program began in 1992 with roughly 40 percent participation. This year, the program is at 95 percent.
Local principals expect their programs to grow each year until compliance is virtually universal.
Some parents agree.
Michael Gordon, whose 5-year-old daughter, Nia, has not worn a uniform this year at Thalia, said the family will buy uniforms next year. ``It's a good program,'' he said. ``The teachers can look at the child and not the clothes. The children can focus on their school work and not what they're wearing.''
Gordon wishes the programs would expand throughout the system. ``The high schools have become fashion shows,'' he said. ``Once you start the work on the uniforms in the elementary schools, maybe it's a steppingstone to putting it where it's really needed - in the upper grades.''
In Norfolk, the concept of uniforms for older students already has been tested. Ruffner Middle School began mandatory uniforms this year, and has been cited as a model school in a uniform pamphlet published by the Department of Education. The pamphlet recently was mailed to the 15,000 school districts nationally. One of the benefits of a mandatory program is the ability to measure results. At Ruffner, nearly every category of disciplinary offense has declined since uniforms were started. Fighting is down 38 percent; horseplaying has dropped 47 percent. The first quarter honor roll was 16 percent higher than last year.
Several Beach schools have measures in place and plan a complete assessment at the end of the school year. In one of the school's newsletters, Thalia principal Felty noted that of 101 referrals for discipline through November of the current school year, only four involved students wearing uniforms.
Student opinion on the experiment is varied.
Some children, like Zacheya Pettilord, a first-grader at Thalia, beam with pride when displaying their uniform to a visitor. In Mary Hanna's third-grade art class at Strawbridge, opinions are spread more freely than fingerpaint. When asked why there were no uniforms in the class on a recent day, one blond-haired girl offered, ``We don't like them very much.'' ``They're itchy,'' said another. ``I like wearing different things,'' added one girl. ``I'd get bored wearing the uniform every day.''
Down the hall, in Mary Wilkinson's second-grade class, several students were wearing uniforms. Some had the patch with the Strawbridge Shark mascot on it. Dennis likes his uniform. He says it makes him do better in school because it's special. Dennis' classmate, Zane, said he wears the uniform every day because ``my mom wants me to look nice.'' But he doesn't like it too much himself, he admitted with a grin.
No other Virginia Beach schools have sought the required approval from the School Board to join the uniform experiment next year, although some have considered it.
Pembroke Elementary principal Nancy Rosenblatt drew up a survey and sent it out to parents last year. Of about 350 households, 292 responses were received. Just more than 46 percent of those responding said they would favor a uniform program. Based on those results, Rosenblatt, a uniform supporter, decided not to pursue it.
Thalia principal Felty is convinced the uniform program will work. When asked if she would do it all again, she said, ``Yes. Definitely, and if I were transferred to another school, I'd give it another shot there.'' MEMO: Related article on page 17.
UNIFORM QUESTIONS
WHY DON'T MORE STUDENTS WEAR UNIFORMS?
Officials point to the following reasons for low compliance with the
uniform policy so far:
The newness of the program - the requirements of and benefits from
the program are not yet fully understood.
No established tradition of wearing uniforms in American public
schools, unlike Great Britain and Japan, for example.
Extremes of weather are not conducive to wearing the generic,
non-seasonal uniforms chosen.
Strong-willed children who prevail against parental wishes.
Parents and students who believe uniforms unreasonably limit personal
expression or comfort.
An insufficient supply of uniforms.
WHY SHOULD STUDENTS WEAR UNIFORMS?
School officials say the potential benefits to parents include:
Reduces costs - uniforms (about $20 to $30 each) are less costly than
clothes that bear the labels of popular designers.
Eliminates arguments over what to wear.
Eliminates evidence of income disparity.
Helps students focus on their school work instead of their
appearance.
Allows children to get dressed in less time each morning since the
element of decision is removed from the process.
ILLUSTRATION: ON THE COVER staff color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Zacheya Pettilord, a first-grader at Thalia Elementary, wears her
uniform with pride to school every day.
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Danielle Patterson, left, and Ashton Jones dress the part at Windsor
Woods Elementary, where the uniform policy was recently modified to
include sweaters.
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Megan Whaley, 8, left, and Amber Parrish, 9, walk around the school
playground at Thalia. Whaley is wearing the uniform, a white top and
blue pants. Students can also wear red or blue tops.
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Caleb Guzik works in the Thalia Elementary library, wearing his
uniform of a white shirt and blue pants. Compliance is around 40
percent at the school.
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Carter Roberts, 6, Jacqueline Mayfield, 6, and Eric Nalley, 5, model
the variety of uniform styles at Thalia Elementary.
by CNB