THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609120337
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 74 lines
The voluntary program that initially brought 70 percent of students to the doors of Thalia Elementary School in uniform last year has been discontinued.
Principal Caryl Felty said that participation had dropped sharply by the end of the last school year and that the program - which was intended to build a sense of community - had become divisive.
``It broke our hearts,'' Felty said. ``It was a hard thing to give up.''
The other three city schools that began uniform policies last year - Windsor Woods, Seatack and Strawbridge elementary schools - have continued them with varying levels of participation.
But at Thalia, students returned to school earlier this month with a new comprehensive dress code instead of a uniform policy.
Felty said that in some cases, parents were swayed by their children to drop the uniforms. Others said that if they wanted their children in uniforms, they'd send them to private schools. Divisions also became apparent over socioeconomic status, with some parents seeing uniforms as an issue for lower-income families but not for them. Ultimately, the school split along the lines of those who supported and those who opposed the policy without regard to economics, one parent said.
``I would not try uniforms again unless I could make it a mandatory policy,'' Felty said.
Douglas Roberts, a parent of two Thalia students, wrote his master's thesis for Old Dominion University on the reasons for non-participation with the policy at Thalia.
Through random surveys of two classrooms at each grade level, he found that many parents who chose not to dress their children in uniforms said they would have participated had the policy been mandatory.
The General Assembly passed legislation that lets schools require uniforms after the four Beach schools had begun studying voluntary programs.
Without that means of enforcement, however, students who wore uniforms gradually began to feel they were in the minority as numbers gradually dropped during the year.
Other parents expressed disappointment in the selection of uniforms available and in the failure of corporate sponsorship to help provide uniforms for needy families. And Roberts said that some held the perception, with which he strongly disagrees, that too much of the school administration's time was spent on the uniform policy rather than other issues.
Some of the resistance seemed rooted in denial that some of the problems uniforms can offset, such as gang activity, were an issue for Thalia, Roberts added.
His two children, now in first and fourth grades, wore uniforms ``100 percent of the time'' at school last year, Roberts said. His family found their clothing cost reduced significantly along with the morning hassle over what to wear. He also said he thought it helped focus his kids on the message that ``school is about the business of learning.''
One parent who opposed the uniforms sees it differently. The mother, who asked that her name not be used, said her children did not wear uniforms for several reasons, from their preference for clothing variety to her objections over being told what her kids should wear.
The woman said she expects her children to behave ``whatever they're wearing'' and that the school was trying to cover potential problems ``with a white shirt and blue pants.''
``They were trying to make everybody equal and I don't think you can do that in every way,'' she said. But she added that her overall experience with the school was good and she was pleased with the new dress code as an alternative to uniforms. The new code sets appropriate lengths for shorts and skirts; bans halter tops, tank tops and the like; and prohibits wearing any sort of message that could be considered negative.
``It's a great school,'' she said. ``My children have had wonderful teachers there.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
FILE PHOTO
Zakeya Pettifor's uniform has given way to a dress code at Thalia.
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL UNIFORMS by CNB