Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : La Mesa’s Uniform Wait Nearly Over, Official Says : Schools: Parents are trying to be patient and to laugh off the problems, but some are wondering if they should buy their children different outfits.

A host of problems has kept school uniforms from reaching students at La Mesa Junior High, but a top official of the clothing manufacturer assured parents the wait is almost over.

The uniforms were on the minds of many of the 50 people at La Mesa’s first Parent Advisory Committee meeting Thursday night--the newly opened public school had been promoted as one of the first in the state to require student uniforms.

“We try to laugh it off,” said Lisa Gibson, a Canyon Country resident whose 11-year-old daughter, Monica, attends La Mesa. “The hardest thing is you don’t know whether to buy fall clothes for your child for school.”

Gibson said she has received one pair of uniform pants since placing her first order for $150 worth of clothes in June. She placed a second order in August after hearing there was no record of her first order, and lately she said she’s been on the phone every day trying to sort out the confusion between the two orders, each of which was billed to her credit card under a different name.

“I speak to a new and improved person every day,” Gibson said, referring to extra personnel the clothing manufacturer has hired to answer thousands of incoming calls.

About one-third of the 500 students at La Mesa had received part or all of their uniforms when school started Sept. 8. The uniforms consist of a variety of boys and girls clothing in the school’s colors of white, black and teal.

But almost none of the students are wearing them, since the school has made them optional until further notice.

Cherokee Inc. is a large clothing wholesaler that is entering the school uniform business for the first time this year, said Mike Singer, president of the company’s uniform division. As a result, some unexpected glitches occurred in early August with computers processing orders for more than 20 California schools.

The company hired a second firm to process the orders, he said. But a 15-digit computer code providing each uniform’s specifications had to be translated to a 10-digit code to fit on a subcontractor’s computer system.

The trouble was compounded when a truckload of 9,000 uniforms was hijacked at gunpoint shortly before school opened.

Virtually all of the stolen uniforms have been remade and most of La Mesa’s uniforms should arrive by next week, Singer said.