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Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Reaction to Dress Code at La Mesa Not Uniform : Policy: Students have until Monday to comply with rule to wear some combination of shirts, vests, pants, skirts and shorts in school colors.

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Justin Langston, 12, showed up Thursday for his first day at La Mesa Junior High School wearing an oversized white T-shirt and baggy shorts that nearly reached his ankles.

After today, he won’t get that chance again.

The new junior high school opened its temporary campus to more than 500 seventh-grade students Thursday, all of whom will be required to wear uniforms starting Monday.

The school is the first in the Santa Clarita Valley to require uniforms.

Justin said his oversized clothes are comfortable and he doesn’t think much of the new uniform policy--”It sucks real bad”--which, besides regulating style, forbids wearing oversized uniforms.

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Parents and school officials are raving about the new policy, saying they believe it will cut down on gang activity and focus greater student attention on learning. Plenty of students said Thursday they also like the idea.

“I think they’re cool because I don’t have to pick out what to wear in the morning,” said Cori Hanes, 11. “That’s a lot of stress.”

“They’re OK,” said Erin Murray, 12, clad in a black T-shirt with the school’s logo.

The William S. Hart Union High School District approved the uniform policy for a one-year trial period, with plans to expand to other junior high schools if it works. Officials at other Santa Clarita Valley school districts say they are interested to see whether the La Mesa program is a success.

Public school uniforms seem to be catching on statewide. Gov. Pete Wilson signed a law last month allowing school districts to require uniforms. The Long Beach Unified School District became the first major U.S. district this year to mandate uniforms citywide, requiring them for all 57,000 elementary and middle school students.

La Mesa students can choose from an assortment of long- and short-sleeve shirts, vests, pants, skirts and shorts in the school colors of teal, black and white. Accessories such as jackets and hair ribbons can also be worn.

It will cost families about $150 a year to outfit a student, school officials said. About 15 scholarships of $100 were provided.

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All La Mesa students were supposed to wear their uniforms Thursday, but some clothing shipments were delayed, said Principal Rochelle Neal. She said all students are expected to be in uniform Monday.

Students not wearing uniforms will have to wear their gym clothes to class, Neal said. After that, students risk getting detention and having their parents called.

Business was brisk at the school’s uniform store, where a limited number of uniforms had arrived. Chris Richardson said she bought a white T-shirt for her 12-year-old son, Justin, so he could wear it today if the $280 worth of clothing she ordered doesn’t arrive.

“I ordered one of everything in every color so he has something different to wear,” she said. “I’m sure they would get tired of the same clothing after a while.”

Richardson said her son could have attended Sierra Vista Junior High School in Canyon Country, but decided instead to try La Mesa because “I think the kids who dress like gang-bangers won’t come here because they won’t wear the uniforms.”

La Mesa will operate at the Valencia High School campus--which also opened this week--until December, when the junior high school facility is finished.

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