Simi Board to Discuss Uniforms at Garden Grove Elementary : Education: The principal says the optional dress code of navy and white would promote safety. One board member calls it a superficial remedy for conflict.

Children at Garden Grove Elementary in Simi Valley would become the first in Ventura County to wear uniforms on a public campus, under a proposal to be discussed by school officials tonight.

The plan, backed by Principal Elroy Peterson, would strongly encourage, but not require, the school’s approximately 500 students to wear a uniform of navy pants or skirts and white shirts and blouses.

Peterson said he suggested the idea to parents last fall as a way to eliminate competition over clothes and make students concentrate more on learning. He also said uniforms would prevent students from mimicking fashion styles associated with street gangs.

“We’re doing it because we want children to feel safe here and we want them to feel like this is a place where they come to do business, not play,” Peterson said.

“All we want them to do is have an opportunity to enjoy school without worrying about the latest fad or getting beat up if they wear the wrong color,” he added.

Peterson said 75% of parents who returned a survey in May supported his idea. Of 333 responses, 249 parents said they favored uniforms and 84 said they were opposed.

Another 18 said they wanted more information. About 500 students attend the school, including 125 who are physically or severely handicapped.

Members of the Simi Valley Unified school board are expected to discuss Peterson’s proposal tonight along with broader guidelines for allowing individual schools to develop their own dress codes.

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Two of the five school board members on Monday expressed concerns about Garden Grove’s proposal.

School board member Debbie Sandland said she fears that students who opt not to wear uniforms to Garden Grove will be pressured to conform or transfer out of the school.

Under Garden Grove’s proposal, students not in uniform would have to adhere to a strict dress code. That, said Sandland, could amount to a “back-door uniform policy for all.”

Sandland also criticized the idea as superficial, saying it avoids the underlying reasons for fights and other violence on campus.

“It’s window dressing,” she said. “If they’re having trouble with conflict, we need to focus on that, not on making these kids look the same.”

And school board member Doug Crosse questioned the results of Peterson’s survey, asking whether a true majority really supports the idea.

The parents of incoming kindergartners were not polled, while the parents of graduating sixth-graders were.

Also, Crosse said, he is concerned that some families may have voted more than once.

“I support schools’ desires to have dress codes and uniforms, if indeed they are getting a true representation of parents and students,” he said.

In response, Peterson said the school is sending home a second survey this week to the parents who did not respond to the earlier questionnaire.

Many parents who support dressing their kids in uniforms say the reasons are often more practical than philosophical.

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Laurie Wilkinson, who works as a campus aide and has a son in the fourth grade, said uniforms would save her family money and eliminate fights in the morning over acceptable dress for school.

“I truly believe it would be one less thing for the kids or the parents to worry about,” she said.

Although Garden Grove is the first school in Ventura County to seek approval for a uniform policy, other schools in Simi Valley and throughout the county have toughened their dress codes in recent years.

Most of the restrictions have focused on gang attire, such as baggy pants, oversized jackets and baseball caps.

Still other schools have adopted strict policies as part of a back-to-basics movement focusing on discipline and academics.

At the suggestion of Supt. Joseph Spirito, the Ventura Unified School District began considering uniforms several months ago. And in Simi Valley, Vista Fundamental School bans jeans and shorts, except on designated days.