Schools to retain voluntary uniform policy

Nine-year-old Ashlie Rosas proudly wears the white shirt and blue skirt that make up her school uniform, a new initiative at Fay Herron Elementary this year.

"They're, like, cool," the third-grader said during afternoon recess Thursday. "They're white and blue, and boys like blue."

But classmate Cecilia McIntosh, in a T-shirt and overalls, said the uniforms weren't for her.

"I wear my own clothes," she said. "I just like them better."

Students -- and their parents -- still have a choice about uniforms, following a Clark County School Board vote Thursday. The board shot down a proposal to allow teachers and parents to make uniform policies mandatory at individual schools.

"I feel this is a feel-good policy for a lot of people," board member Larry Mason said. "What we have is working."

The vote preserved the district's current rules: schools can adopt a voluntary uniform policy if principals, teachers and parents embrace it.

About 15 schools have adopted voluntary uniform policies in recent years, but participation has dwindled to almost nothing in most cases. Officials say student interest quickly wanes.

"We must have the ability to mandate a school uniform policy for it to truly work," Terry Sobrero, assistant principal at Becker Middle School, told the board.

Sobrero later said that many students quietly admit they like the idea of uniforms, if every student is forced to wear them.

Becker Middle School eighth-grader Nicole Crownover came to the meeting in support of uniforms, even donning a purple-and-white sample. She said the "comfortable, stylish" uniform would eliminate fashion pressure.

But Nicole said she would not risk wearing it to school under a voluntary policy.

"Kids who did would get called dorks and geeks," she said.

Among the most vocal against a mandatory uniform policy were leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"These uniform policies are not really going to meaningfully and effectively solve the problems that people are seeking to solve," Gary Peck, local ACLU director, said before the meeting. "They are offensive to privacy, liberty and the freedom of self-expression."

The issue of school uniforms has sparked debates all over the nation. Advocates say uniforms cut down on fashion pressure, increase school pride and reduce gang regalia. Opponents say they don't want public schools dictating student dress.

"I've tried dress pants, and I can tell you quite simply, I put (my children) in jeans and they last me much longer," parent Betty Johnson told the board. "It is wrong to demand a parent be forced into financial hardship."

In the end, board members said they were edgy about approving any mandatory uniform policies.

"There were mixed feelings within my own family," said Susan Brager, president of the board.

"Independent thinking, independent living, independent thought is going to be stifled," Mason said.

At Herron, about 50 percent of students have worn uniforms since they were introduced at the school in April, Assistant Principal Clarence Ehler said. Still, few students donned the navy blue and white at recess Thursday.

Ehler said parents seemed to like the option, but he added that parents at the at-risk school probably could not afford to buy a week's worth of uniforms if a mandatory policy was approved.

"Kids feel proud of what they are wearing," Ehler said. "But when we were discussing a uniform policy, it was pretty important to us to make it an option. If I had to come up with a rationale for making it mandatory, I couldn't."

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