Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Optional Uniform Policy Criticized : Education: Newhall and Valencia elementary schools face tighter dress codes. Skeptics say the provision is pointless if it is not made mandatory.

Elementary schools in Newhall and Valencia have received permission to implement an optional student uniform policy, but some parents and school officials are questioning how effective the effort would be if regulated clothing is not mandatory.

The Newhall School District Board, which manages six elementary schools, voted unanimously Tuesday night to tighten existing dress codes, including banning T-shirt slogans promoting substance abuse and outlawing baggy pants such as those favored by gang members.

The board’s action also allows students to wear uniforms but does not require them--a provision that critics say would undermine the benefits of having all students dress alike.

“I think having them voluntary would be ridiculous,” said parent Elka Harms, whose 9-year-old son attends Valencia Valley Elementary School.

“It’s going to cause chaos,” Harms said. “They should either do it mandatory or not do it at all.”

School administrators said they would review the new policy but did not expect immediate changes in the way students dressed.

“Now that it is policy it is something we will begin discussing,” said Diane von Buelow, principal of Meadows Elementary School, adding she planned to solicit parents’ and teachers’ opinions on the issue.

A survey last spring showed that about three-fourths of parents living in the district supported a voluntary uniform policy, said Supt. J. Michael McGrath.

Proponents said Wednesday that uniforms would help focus students’ attention on learning rather than fashion and eliminate the dangers associated with gang-style clothing.

“I think kids need to realize there’s more to going to school than wearing the best tennis shoes,” said parent Mary DeMonbrun, who has three children at Valencia Valley.

But skeptics said a voluntary uniform program would be pointless since the problems associated with street clothes would still exist, and those wearing uniforms could be alienated.

Students at Valencia Valley had mixed reactions to the possibility of uniforms, but most said they would not want to wear them unless most of their classmates did so.

“I would feel funny, weird,” said Eddie Gonzalez, 12, a sixth-grade student. “They could make fun of you.”

Some board members said the policy could be a step toward implementing a mandatory uniform policy at one or more schools.

“If a school comes to us and expresses interest in a mandatory uniform policy, I think we should encourage them to pursue it,” said Board President Gonzalo Freixes during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Voluntary uniform policies have been implemented at dozens of Southern California schools. In Simi Valley, Assistant Principal Judy Cannings said she believes the policy that started this year at her campus has been successful.

“I think the advantages are that the students here do their work and are not as fashion conscious as they normally would be,” said Cannings, who works at Garden Grove Elementary School.

Since the program began, as much as 70% of the school’s students have been wearing uniforms although the number of participants tapers off by the week’s end, Cannings said.

“I think it has something to do with laundry,” she said. “I have several students who come in and tell me part of their uniform is dirty.”

The only uniform program currently in effect in Santa Clarita is an experimental, one-year mandatory policy at La Mesa Junior High School. Freixes, the Newhall board president, said a voluntary uniform program at the elementary level could prepare students for mandatory uniforms in junior high and high school.

Uniform policies at some of the state’s schools have prompted lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that say they restrict students’ freedom of expression. McGrath, Newhall’s superintendent, said the voluntary uniform policy is easier to defend legally.

In addition, McGrath said, schools with mandatory uniform policies are required by law to allow parents who object to transfer their children to a different school.

“My view of the mandatory program is, you’re still put in the position of it’s something you can’t force kids to wear,” he said.