Inglewood School Board OKs Policy on Uniforms : Education: Parental concern over gang clothing prompts adoption of voluntary plan. It will take effect in the fall.

The Inglewood Board of Education has adopted a policy that encourages, but does not require, students to wear uniforms. The action was taken after some parents expressed concern about gang colors being worn at local schools.

Voting 3-2 for the policy, board members this week heeded the wishes of a group of parents in approving the uniform concept but made it clear that compliance would be voluntary. The policy will go into effect in the fall.

“This whole issue came about because the parents were interested in the uniforms as a reaction to the gang clothing,” said school board member Thomasina Reed, who voted for the policy.

Joining Reed in the vote were board members Joseph T. Rouzan Sr. and Loystene Irvin. Lois Hill Hale and Larry Aubry voted against the move.

Reed said that many parents also felt that consistent school wear would “give children more of a sense of pride and identification with the schools.”

The same group of parents that formed a committee last year to study the uniform idea will now pick out the styles and color for the district. Parents must buy the uniforms.

Maurice Wiley, the district’s public information director, said that the state education code prohibits public school districts from requiring students to wear uniforms.

One Inglewood school, Centinela Elementary, already has a maroon and gray uniform and is expected to keep it, regardless of what styles and colors are chosen for the rest of the district. Centinela parents opted last year to start a uniform program, Wiley said, and about one-third of the Centinela school population wears uniforms.

Although there is no way to determine how many parents will put their youngsters in uniform, Wiley said that officials expect about one-third of the district’s 16,400 youngsters to start school with uniforms next fall.

In addition, Lorraine Fong, assistant principal at Bennett-Kew Elementary School, said that about 200 parents sent back a questionnaire asking them if they wanted their children to wear uniforms. Of that group, Fong said, 29 said they did not want uniforms.

Fong said the rest of the parents indicated that they would like to see their children wear uniforms. There are about 800 children in the school, she said.