O.C. Schools Trying Uniforms On for Size : Education: New law allows districts to make them mandatory in era of gangs, fashion pressures.

SANTA ANA — Ten-year-old Maria Gomez pulled at her school uniform, a navy jumper with a blue bow at the neck, and complained.

“I wear it because my mom makes me,” she said. “It’s too hot.”

But Abram Santos said he wants to fit in at Sepulveda Elementary School, so he wears a uniform.

“My mom says it looks nice,” said Abram, 6, a second-grader who wore navy pants, a white, buttoned-down shirt and blue tie to school Wednesday.

At times, the Santa Ana campus looks like a parochial school, with girls wearing navy skirts or jumpers with white blouses and boys in slacks or shorts with white shirts. But these uniforms are optional; students also can wear their overalls or jeans.

At some public schools in California, students may not have that choice next year. A new state law, signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday, will allow school districts to require students to wear uniforms.

A number of schools throughout the state, including about 50 in Orange County, already have voluntary uniforms. And school districts around the nation are taking a serious look at what might have been unthinkable before the era of gang colors.

In Santa Ana, 26 of the district’s 30 elementary schools have optional uniforms, including Pio Pico Elementary, the county’s vanguard three years ago when it first tried the idea. Parents’ enthusiasm spurred other schools like Sepulveda to give the polyester pants and cotton shirts a try.

Sepulveda students have mixed opinions about the uniforms, which have been an option there for about a year.

“I like them because I don’t have to worry about getting my clothes dirty,” said Keslynn Velasco, 6, who wore a navy blue jumpsuit and white blouse Wednesday.

First-grade teacher Connie McWhorter said uniforms make her students feel like they belong in school.

“They identify their uniforms with being students,” McWhorter said. “Firemen wear firemen’s uniforms, police officers wear police uniforms. They see school uniforms and say, ‘This is a student, and that’s their job.’ ”

But older Sepulveda elementary students, like 10-year-old Jasmin Bahena, aren’t sold.

“I don’t like them, because we don’t get to wear our normal clothes,” Bahena said, wearing denim shorts and a pink top.

Maribel Mendoza, also 10, conceded that uniforms prevent students from wearing clothing signifying gangs, “but that doesn’t stop people in gangs. They’re still in a gang even though they have a uniform,” she said.

Under the law, which takes effect Jan. 1, district officials who want to require uniforms must talk to principals, teachers and parents before choosing the outfits.

If a district or school decides to adopt uniforms, administrators must tell parents six months in advance. Children of parents who object on religious or moral grounds may be exempted, and each school or district must create its own rules for giving those children alternatives.

Students who cannot afford a uniform must be provided one by their school.

Administrators of the Santa Ana Unified School District said they don’t see any changes ahead for their voluntary policy.

“We’re pleased with the progress at our schools on a voluntary basis,” interim Santa Ana Supt. Don Champlin said.

But at least one school in Orange County may adopt a mandatory uniform policy.

Superintendent James A. Fleming said he expects that Philip J. Reilly Elementary School in Mission Viejo, the only school in the Capistrano Unified School District that currently has a voluntary uniforms policy, will make them mandatory.

Two other schools, Aliso Niguel High School and new Wood Canyon Elementary School, are considering them on a voluntary basis, Fleming said.

“I anticipate that with the passage of that law, you will see significant movement in my district and other districts toward a uniform policy,” Fleming said. “It helps change behavior and stops competition about who is wearing the latest fashions.”

Long Beach apparently will become the first major U.S. city to make the uniform standard dress for its 57,000 students in public schools.

Mary Marquez, principal of Long Beach’s Whittier Elementary School, which has been experimenting with voluntary uniforms for the past five years, is a believer.

During that time, the school, located in an economically depressed part of the city, has gradually improved in a number of academic areas. And it was announced this week that Whittier had the smallest absentee rate of Long Beach’s 82 schools. She attributes part of that success to the uniforms, which she said makes for a much more even playing field when it comes to clothes. And there is no confusion about a child unwittingly wearing gang colors to school.

“The parents are pleased to have something worn that can’t be mistaken for gang attire,” she said. “The teachers are very happy with it, that kids come to school ready to learn. No one thing is going to fix everything, but it is an important step in making the students feel like they are a part of things.”

Not that all are in agreement about the value of the uniform. Some, for instance, complain about the cash outlay for the special clothes, while others say they stifle the creativity of the children. The American Civil Liberties Union, and Long Beach student Andrew Tully, have come out against uniforms.

“I want the freedom of what I wear,” said Tully, 10, eating his lunch in a bright colored T-shirt and shorts. “It’s my First Amendment right.”

But Diane Fike, said she was glad her youngest son, a fourth-grader, would be surrounded by navy and white.

“It really is a safety issue,” Fike said. “People in the community can really watch out for these kids when they’re in uniform,” she said. “Plus, I do think it’s a social equalizer.”

She said the students’ gripes were to be expected: “Kids are going to want to do what they want to do.”

Kirk Tyler, the 13-year-old Student Council President at Mary Butler, said he was wearing his uniform now--but doing it reluctantly.

“I’m going to learn if I’m going to learn,” he said. “The clothes can’t tell you that you’re going to learn.”

Ted Mitchell, the dean of the UCLA School of Education, praised both the new law and Long Beach in particular.

“It’s sort of an inoculation against controversy,” he said of the new law.

One other point on the question of uniforms: sales are brisk for uniforms in Long Beach, while sales of other clothing is predictably down. Melissa Salazar, an employee at one of three Long beach Target stores, said they were selling hundreds of uniforms a day. Meanwhile, a manager of Chaktomouk fashions, which sells children’s clothes in Long beach, said sales were down by about $50 a day.

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.