The Washington Unified School District Board met in its regular session this evening and as soon as the gavel fell, the proverbial poo began to fly.
     It seems that the Board, at the behest of Superintendant Steve Lawrence PhD., is seriously considering a policy change proposal that would require all students in the district to wear a designated uniform to school.
     Board Member Matt Stegman, another staunch supporter of the uniform policy, made a statement that caused the other Board members to take a second and think. “How can we expect our kids to wear proper clothing to school when some of our teachers don’t?”
Apparently, some of the teachers in the district, which doesn’t have a negotiated dress code for the credentialed employees, dress in clothes that rival some of the students in fashion statement. Stegman, as well as Teresa Blackmer, a newly elected Board member, emphasized that the teachers have to set the standard and example for the students to follow.
     That all sounds good, but knowing some of the students at the high school level and their parents, I see a big battle brewing. The students traditionally won’t like it and the parents will balk, at least at first, at the need for their kids to be in uniform.
    The concept is sound; uniforms would certainly go far toward eliminating the issues now plaguing schools regarding gang members displaying their “colors” through the in-fashion clothing now so popular with the students today. Additionally, the cost of uniforms compared to current fashion is significantly lower, which will ease the expenditure parents bear every year to cloth their kids for school. 
     But the battle is going to be all up hill. Given the fact that WUSD has had uniform policies in effect for the elementary schools for some time with little success, the parents will be the district’s biggest obstacle. Collectively, so many of the parents now “opt-out” of their children wearing uniforms that it may be left to each principal to meet with the parents and convince them that uniforms will be a good idea.
     Nonetheless, the Board will take the proposed policy under advisement over the summer session.
 

     There’s certainly more to come and I’ll be there to get the facts and bring them to you.