STARKVILLE — As Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey stood at the microphone Thursday night in the Greensboro Center auditorium, Starkville High School students Robert Ingram, Allison Price and Jennifer Hunt walked down the side aisle, turned and faced the crowd in front of them and held up large, homemade signs.
One of the signs simply read “No Uniforms;” another said “To protect, you must understand, and you understand nothing;” yet another featured a drawing of a swastika and other language in opposition to the school district”s proposal to require all students to where uniforms beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
Ingram, Price and Hunt were just three of the more than 200 people who piled into the Greensboro Center Thursday night to offer opinions on the proposed uniform policy. A majority of those in attendance were opposed to the policy, which would require students to wear khakis, collared shirts and other dress apparel instead of the students” typical wardrobe.
Many in opposition cited the loss of personal freedom and creativity, while others were opposed because they would have to buy new clothes for their children in tight financial times. Those opposed to uniform policy also cited a 2009 survey, in which only 15.9 percent of the 744 Starkville School District students who responded were in favor of uniforms, along with only 44.3 percent of the 517 parents who took part, in favor.
Starkville attorney Rob Roberson, who has three children in Starkville schools was opposed to the uniform policy and the way the school board has handled the issue.
“I think there was a tremendous amount of well intention put behind this, but this is a bigger issue than school uniforms,” Roberson said. “This is about you listening to us.”
“The reality is, if this school board is not listening, why did you do the survey?” Roberson said to a round of applause.
Will Irvin, vice president of the student council at Armstrong Middle School, said he was speaking out against the policy on behalf of the majority of his classmates. Irvin drew laughter from the crowd, first by reading off the palm of his hand like Sarah Palin, then with his candid take on the issue.
“We are people too; kids are people too,” Irvin said. “The thing is, we”re the ones going to the schools. Not anybody else but us. We”re the ones who matter the most.”
Support for uniforms
But some people were in favor of uniforms, saying it would cut down on the clothing disparity among students from different socio-economic backgrounds. That, in turn, would lead to less bullying, they said.
Bill Houston, a teacher at Starkville High School, was in favor of the uniform policy. And he warned that, if the policy is imposed, parents and students who refuse to abide will only distract from the learning environment of others.
“Whatever this decision is, parents, if you send your kids to school and they are not in compliance with the policy, those teachers are going to have a battle in the classroom that is going to take away from the educational process,” Houston said.
He also said a stricter dress code would lead to more appropriate clothing on students at the high school.
“Anybody been to the high school lately?” Houston asked. “Parents, what we”re getting there showing up ain”t what you”re sending coming out.”
Safety concerns
School officials have cited safety concerns as one of the main reasons for wanting to implement a uniform policy.
Some schools and school playgrounds in the district don”t have fences around them, so students and others tend to come and go, which can make it difficult for teachers and administrators to determine who is a student and who isn”t, Couey said. Additions to these school buildings and the merging of schools also has led to increased student populations on each campus, which makes it even more difficult to keep tabs on students and others, Couey said. Plus, some of the campuses border wooded areas and, on two or three occasions in the past year, non-students have been caught on school property during regular school hours.
“We have supervisory issues that have been created by building on to these existing campuses, and we have very large student numbers,” Couey said. “We have a desire to have a welcoming, open campus, but we have issues that are created by putting new buildings onto buildings that were built during a different time. Our job as administrators is to plan in a way that will anticipate anything that can possibly happen. We can”t plan to react. We have to plan to anticipate.”
With plans to issue student identification cards already in the works for the 2010-2011 school year, Couey said uniforms would add another “layer” of safety.
Other proposed solutions
But some people believe the school district should build more fences around schools and hire additional school resource officers to improve safety, not implement a uniform policy.
Dana Seymour is a teacher at Henderson Intermediate School, but also has three children in the school district. She wants to see every playground fenced in and doesn”t believe uniforms will make a difference in the safety at each school.
“It”s a false sense of security,” she said of uniforms. “I don”t want that.”
Couey, who said she is neither for nor against uniforms, just wants to take as many steps as she can to improve the safety of the more than 4,000 students in the district.
“Worst-case scenario with uniforms, you hear a lot of mixed results,” Couey said. “You hear things about stifling creativity or you hear things like ”I just don”t want to do it,” or ”My child doesn”t want to do it.” However, if you look at the worst-case scenario of not being able to identify those students on your campus, it becomes a bit dangerous. I”m just concerned about that.”
The school board still has not decided whether or not to impose the uniform policy. It will consider the opinions of the 31 people who spoke at the forum Thursday night before making a decision, Board President Walter Taylor said after the forum.
The school board”s next meeting is Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Greensboro Center, located at 401 Greensboro St.
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