SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : Schools’ Reactions to Student Clothing Plans Are Not Uniform : Education: La Mesa Junior High will continue the experimental program requiring the matching garb, but 40% of Placerita parents oppose the idea.

An experimental student-uniform program at a new junior high school has been extended indefinitely due to overwhelming parent and teacher support, but those trying to bring uniforms to an older school are finding it tougher to change tradition.

La Mesa Junior High School, the new school, became the first school in Santa Clarita to enact a permanent uniform policy when the William S. Hart Union High School District board voted unanimously at its Wednesday night meeting to extend a pilot program.

Surveys indicated 91% of parents and 100% of school staff workers wanted the program to continue.

Only 29% of La Mesa students said they wanted to continue wearing uniforms, but Principal Rochelle Neal dismissed their desires, saying it was like “asking them if they want homework next year.”

A grass-roots effort to bring uniforms this fall to Placerita Junior High School, which opened in 1961, fell short, however, when a survey indicated 40% of parents there opposed the idea.

The school board discussed uniforms for three hours with about 75 parents and school officials. Proponents argued that uniforms not only focus students’ attention on learning but also remove the dangers of gang-style clothing and pressure by fellow students to wear the “right” styles.

La Mesa became one of the first schools in the state with a mandatory uniform policy when it opened last fall. Initially, 86% of parents there supported the concept.

Other local schools indicated they might implement uniform requirements if La Mesa’s efforts were successful.

But the program got off to a disastrous start: Many uniforms didn’t reach the school for weeks after a truck filled with clothing was hijacked at gunpoint, and recurring computer errors kept the vendor, Cherokee Inc., from shipping other orders on time. The company caused further jitters by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so it could reorganize and pay off debts.

“I’m glad we’re doing this report today and not in October, when the truck was hijacked and Cherokee was filing bankruptcy,” Neal said.

She noted that support for the program is higher now than when it was proposed a year ago, despite the problems. Even the students who dislike the uniforms are more in compliance with the rules.

“It’s getting to the point now where you see them tucking in their shirts as they stand up to get off the bus,” she said. “Of course, the first thing you see them do as soon as school gets out is untuck their shirts.”

All five board members said they support uniforms, but four indicated more unity is needed among Placerita parents for the program to be extended to that school.

“I would say it’s going to take a little more work, perhaps a lot more work,” said Board Member William Dinsenbacher. Of the opponents he said, “Perhaps that 40% are always going to be there.”

Nevertheless, the board unanimously approved a motion by Paula Olivares that the uniform proponents draft a proposal for the 1996-97 school year. She was the only board member who supported uniforms for fall, 1995, at Placerita.

Some members said the motion was unnecessary because the uniform proponents could present another uniform without it. But Gonzalo Freixes, who organized the Placerita uniform effort, said the official request for a plan will help his group get support from parents and school officials who did not participate in the grass-roots effort.

Many of the objections to uniforms at Placerita came from parents who felt that the process was being rushed and that too many details were unclear. Some expressed concern, for example, about the school’s being able to meet a state requirement that enough funds be collected from parent donations or other sources to supply uniforms to families unable to pay for them.

Of the 60% of parents voting for the uniforms, half said they would not help pay for needy students, reported Debbie Himmelfarb, an opponent who was a member of Placerita’s uniform committee.

Others said that they considered uniforms a violation of students’ right to choose and that repairing and upgrading the aging Placerita campus would do more for school spirit.

“My son’s locker is almost rusted through the bottom,” said Cathy Martin, a Placerita parent. “The ladies’ restroom has no seat on one of the toilets: It’s not broken; it was vandalized. There are hundreds of other problems that exist at that campus.”

But even though the board said they will take another look at uniforms at Placerita, Martin said she was not disappointed by their decision.

“In a year and a half my son will be out of junior high school, so it will be a non-issue,” she said.