- April 19, 2024
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A School Board member from Osceola County will offer insight.
The Flagler County School Board will hold its second public hearing on the possibility of a mandatory uniforms policy 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in Matanzas High School’s Pirate Theater.
But this time, they’ll do it with a little help from their friends.
According to Sabrina Crosby, Flagler Schools’ coordinator for special projects, the hearing will begin with a presentation from Jay Wheeler, School Board member from the Osceola district, where a uniforms policy is currently enforced.
Wheeler will also bring two other Osceola staffers to answer questions.
According to Wheeler, the 50,000-student Osceola district instated a uniforms policy in August 2008, primarily to combat gang activity. For three years prior, gang activity was doubling annually. There weren’t drugs or violence on campuses, he said, but classrooms were being used for recruitment.
In its first year of enforcing a dress code, however, the county’s school gang activity decreased by 65%, from 132 gang-related disciplinary charges to 67. By 2011, only 17 charges were filed.
“For us, (uniforms) have been a rousing success,” Wheeler said, in a pre-hearing interview. “This is the least expensive, quickest way to make a positive impact that I know of. … It has really turned our schools around.”
But it wasn’t just gang activity that decreased. The number of classroom disturbance claims also dropped, from 7,052 in 2008 to 3,120 this year. Disruptive behavior claims fell from 3,267 in 2008 to 2,386 this year. Math scores and attendance rates rose. And the graduation rate jumped from 67% to 80% in the three years.
Admittedly, Wheeler stated that other changes had been made to the district during that time, as well. A new superintendent was instated; there were curriculum and leadership shifts.
“I don’t attribute all of our success to school uniforms,” he said. With regard to discipline, though, he feels that most of the changes did stem from better dress.
“The whole school, the whole culture is just so much more collegial,” he said. Teachers are dressing nicer — although they’re not required to. Students are more respectful. And almost everybody has jumped on board in support.
But it wasn’t always so positive.
When Wheeler first began spearheading the uniforms movement, many were against it. He said he got chewed out by parents at sports games. Some residents refused to speak to him. A petition was made to have him thrown out of office.
But now, he says, even his strongest opponents have changed their tune.
“You’ve got to listen to the people. But at the same time, you’ve got to do what’s right,” he said.
John Winston, president of the Flagler County African American Mentor Program, who says he has rallied for the past eight years for a uniform policy, wholeheartedly agrees.
Having grown up in a segregated school in Missouri, Winston says he wore a shirt and tie to school every day of his life. Looking back, he feels that practice elevated the act of learning onto a more honorable and professional plane.
“You should be able to sit in a classroom where the only concern of the day is paying attention to the teacher,” he said. “Somewhere in the annals of education, someone forgot that (school) is supposed to be about education.”
Winston is also a member of the African American Cultural Society, the NAACP and he has worked in three different government agencies, appointed by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.
Osceola’s dress code states that students can wear navy blue or khaki pants, walking shorts, slacks or skirts made of twill, corduroy or denim without holes. Shirts are tucked in and collared. All articles must fit appropriately. Belts are required with pants or shorts. Skirt hems must be at least mid-thigh.
And clothes can be bought from any retailer.
A study conducted by “Psychology Today” and presented in a research packet referenced by the School Board shows that, in the four years since Long Beach, Calif. — which is the first large public school district to instate uniforms, in 1995 — enforced its dress policy, crime rate dropped 91%. Suspensions dropped 90%. Sex offenses dropped 96%. And vandalism dropped 69%.
Uniforms take away student competition when it comes to style, Winston said, replacing it with loftier competition of the mind, and grades. It’s a trend he says he witnessed firsthand at a learning academy in Harlem, which touted a graduation rate of more than 90%.
Most schools in Europe also enforce uniforms policies, he added, as do most other places around the world.
“America is losing the educational gamut,” he said. “The race is being lost by us.”
Since 1996, the percentage of U.S. public schools enforcing uniforms policies has increased from 3% to 18%, as of 2010, according to a study published on the CBS Interactive Business Network.
The trend is growing, much to the satisfaction of proponents like Wheeler and Winston. But countless parents, and students, still dissent. They worry about things like lost individuality and excess cost.
But to Wheeler and Winston, those are excuses.
You want individuality? Join drama or take a poetry course, Wheeler said. As for cost, Winston points out that most uniforms can be purchased for about $15 apiece — less than the cost of a few packs of cigarettes, and a lot less than a pair of Air Jordans that a teenager will just grow out of in a year, anyway.
“There will be ... naysayers,” Wheeler said. “You’ve got to have the political stones to do it. … I am convinced that school uniforms would be a positive in any public school setting.”
Clothes aren’t the cure-all, Winston specified. But they’re a start toward an ideal.
“The problem here, as it is all across America, is we have parents who have negated their responsibility,” he said. “They have turned the responsibility of rearing children over to the schools. It’s a disgusting shame, but it’s going on. Now, people can challenge me, but I’ll always come back to this: Education today. Education tomorrow. Education forever.”
SECOND PUBLIC HEARING
A second public hearing on a mandatory school uniforms policy will be held 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, at the Matanzas High School Pirate Theater. Osceola School Board member Jay Wheeler will be present, along with two Osceola school district staffers, to give a presentation on their current uniforms policy and field questions.
FROM OUR READERS
We recently asked Facebook users, “Are you for or against school uniforms, and why?” Here is a sampling of their responses:
Patricia L. Shemonsky: “Against. Buckle down on the ones that do not follow the rules … Uniforms cost a lot of money and when there are three-plus kids in a family, it is tough on single moms!”
Eileen G. Miller: “For uniforms! This way, the kids aren’t wearing their pants around their knees.”
Darla Marie Beck: “No! We don’t need another thing we have to buy for school. Get on those that violate … ”
Laura Shafiroff Devivo: “Peer Pressure can be hard on a child. Why put them through that? With a uniform, they will always fit in.”
Tracy Lynn Murphy: “They have been going back and forth about this for a few years now. Decide and move on …”
Danielle Harris: “Against … It takes away your originality … Be more strict toward (violators).”
Lori Cooke-Young: “Flagler County schools have enough other things to worry about right now!”
Amber Feagle: “Completely for uniforms! I am a single mom, as well … (and) the initial cost isn’t too great, but it was way less (at Imagine School) than buying regular/season/in-style clothing.”
