EDUCATION : Inglewood Parents Offer Plan for School Reforms

A group of parents committed to reforming Inglewood Unified School District has presented its plan: more accountability, fewer Guess jeans.

Among the 12 recommendations the group gave the school board is a plan to hold principals and administrators accountable for how they spend school money. The group also recommended requiring uniforms for the district’s students.

Officials at the year-round district plan to implement the uniform proposal by July 1, said Assistant Supt. Lowell Winston. Parents of district students will bear the $50 to $60 cost of the uniforms.

The district adopted an optional uniform plan three years ago, prompting about 60% of its students to wear them. But, as students unfamiliar with the program entered the district, participation dropped, Winston said.

For instance, only three of the 1,000 students attending Monroe Middle School wear uniforms, said Kenneth Franklin of the Inglewood Teachers Assn.

Though mandating uniforms is probably the most controversial of the parent group’s ideas, the accountability issue is a bigger concern among its members, said participant Barbara Jones.

The parent group recommends public budget review meetings at least three times a year. Winston said he understood the group’s concerns and expected the district to go along with the recommendations, Winston said.

“No surprises,” he said.