The Uniform of Peace? : A Dress Code in Long Beach Could Inspire Other Schools That Fear Gang Violence

Waiting for a ride home from Franklin Middle School one recent afternoon, Synath Meas was decked out in an over sized, striped button-down shirt; baggy purple jeans; matching purple lipstick, and trendy tan leather work shoes.

But if officials at the Long Beach Unified School District have their way, Synath, 14, and her peers at Franklin will soon wear only black and white to class. In an effort to curb gang-related violence, the district board recently voted to require all 57,500 students in elementary and middle schools to wear uniforms beginning next school year.

The policy is the most aggressive yet by a public school district as officials across the nation move toward uniformity in the name of safety. Many districts have banned gang-style or introduced voluntary uniform policies, but Long Beach is the first to issue a districtwide requirement, said Edward Eveland, a board member and the policy’s architect.

And others might follow suit.

“People have talked and joked about going to uniforms like the private schools have for years,” said Phil Kauble, a consultant with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. “But once a district like Long Beach raises an issue . . . most districts will take a ‘look-and-see’ policy. People will look to see how it’s implemented and what the challenges are.”

A bill pending in the state Senate would eliminate potential legal obstacles.

“If the legislation proceeds and is enacted, I think more districts will proceed on this tack,” said Karin Polacheck, Long Beach board president.

The reason for the trend, school administrators say, is simple: Picking the right styles and colors each morning used to be a matter of taste and fashion; now it can be a matter of life and death.

“Very few weeks go by when students go unchallenged because of the way they look,” Eveland said. “If a gang doesn’t recognize you, they say ‘Where you from?’ If you give the wrong answer, they beat the hell out of you or you get shot at.”

By eliminating the gang-style clothing often donned by students who like the look but are not gang members, officials hope to stop confrontations and mistaken-identity violence. Advocates say uniforms are cheaper than regular school dress and help blur the distinction between the haves and the have nots.

The Long Beach policy could face legal challenges at the state and federal level, and the state Education Code offers little guidance, experts said.

The code allows districts to enact “reasonable dress code regulations” to ban gang-related apparel but makes no mention of uniforms, said Allan Keown, deputy general counsel at the state Department of Education. Keown said districts are generally free to take actions not expressly prohibited by the code.

But schools are not allowed to require students to purchase something to attend school, said Susie Lange, a spokeswoman for the department.

“This has been challenged,” she said. “Not over uniforms, but over instructional materials. It’s been upheld every time.”

Still, Eveland believes that the policy is an integral part of stopping school violence.

“We want to say to the community that school business is serious business,” he said. “Our job, the scope of it, has widened. . . . We shouldn’t have to shoulder the load. I’m talking about gangs, sex education, teaching kids right from wrong and drugs. As educators, we’re not good at those things. We have to get back to concentrating on student achievement. And we’ve known for years that behavior is affected by the way kids dress.

“As far as interfering with individual rights, kids don’t have the same rights in school as they do outside.”

Although district officials expect the policy to be challenged, Eveland said there has been minimal backlash so far.

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Senate Bill 1269, authored by Sen. Phil Wyman (R-Tehachapi), would insert a uniform provision into the Education Code. The bill is scheduled to go to committee in March, said Wayne Piercy, director of legislative services for the Long Beach school district.

“It will give us a more solid base in the state for other districts” to enact mandatory policies, Piercy said.

The National Assn. of Elementary School Principals, continues to get inquiries about uniforms, said Sam Sava, executive director of the 26,000-member organization.

“This is not a slam-dunk issue,” he said in a telephone interview from Alexandria, Va. “You can’t just make a decision and pass a policy.”

Although Sava noted a rise in the popularity of uniform policies from Atlanta to Washington D.C., he said the programs were only moderately successful.

“There are schools that build an esprit de corps around the uniforms,” he said. “Others adopt a policy and after a couple of years decide that it’s not worth the issues it brings up. I don’t think having a uniform gets at the basic issue of violence.”

Although it keeps no statistics, the California School Boards Assn. also reports an increase in interest in uniforms, spokeswoman Patti Roberts said.

Each school in the Long Beach district will be allowed to chose its uniform. “We wanted to create a culture at the schools, rather than paint the district with a brush,” Polacheck said.

The policy affects 14 middle schools and 56 elementary schools. High schools were exempted from the requirement because board members expected a great deal of student resistance, Eveland said.

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At Franklin Middle School, black and white is now the theme, in T-shirts or button-downs, pants (black jeans are OK, but not blue), shorts and skirts. School T-shirts are also available for about $6.

Some Franklin students question the value of mandatory uniforms.

For Synath Meas, it’s a matter of freedom of choice. “It’s not right, people can wear anything they want,” she said. “I don’t want to always wear black and white. I don’t like it. I won’t wear it.”

But Bernalee Mailoto, 12, said: “I think black and white is gang attire, too. If you look at most gangs, they don’t wear red or blue.”

“They’re trying to help us, but they’re not changing anything,” added Meagan Kindler, 13. “We’ll still get jumped. This is the inner city, it’s not going to change. You have to change the neighborhoods first; put the kids behind bars who belong there.”

Others supported the policy, saying it will make the school--and the walk home--safer. “It’s better than getting shot,” said Rodolpho Carrillo, 12.

Mel Collins, Franklin principal and a uniform advocate, said: “School is a business environment and this is a way to further enhance that. . . . It will eliminate the gang look. When they have ‘Wildcats’ plastered across their chest, they’re in my gang. The Franklin posse.”

“There’s no more important business than the work of getting smart,” said Jan Leight, principal of the Long Beach district’s Newcomb Academy. “We’re saying Newcomb Academy is your work place.”

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Because Long Beach enacted the first districtwide mandate, there are few models to learn from. But many Southern California districts have had voluntary policies for years.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has four elementary schools with voluntary policies, said spokesman Pat Spencer, and the Pomona Unified School District has 11. Many other public schools have adopted policies of their own in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“It gets around this gang clothing business and it’s worked to lessen the theft of clothes in school,” said Lange of the state Department of Education. “Parents feel it’s much cheaper than having to buy a whole wardrobe and it lessens the social pressure.”

Charlie Knight, superintendent of Ravenswood Unified, said her Northern California district became the first to adopt the voluntary policy in 1990. “The only negative involved . . . is if parents feel something’s being imposed on them,” she said.

An informal poll of Long Beach families conducted by the local Education Council of African-American Parents found that 171 parents and students favored the policy, while 54 opposed it, said Sharon Diggs-Jackson, the group’s president.

“I’m looking forward to having uniforms,” said Diggs-Jackson, who has three children in the district and one in private school. “It’s less expensive.”

Judy Jacobs, who has two children in Long Beach’s public Bayside Academy, added: “We had a few parents who were unhappy with (the mandatory uniform policy), but for the most part they are behind it emphatically. I wish we had a videotape of the kids last year and this year. It’s truly amazing the difference in attitude. They come to school ready to work and they’re respectful.”