Support for Uniforms on Campus Felt : Education: The new fashions will soon be voluntary at one Ventura elementary, and could become mandatory at an Oxnard school.

Some students at Sheridan Way School in Ventura will be wearing uniforms when classes reconvene in August, and Oxnard’s Emilie Ritchen School may be on the same track, school officials said Thursday.

Uniforms will be voluntary at Sheridan Way, the first school in the Ventura Unified School District to adopt the clothing.

But if the Oxnard school board approves Emilie Ritchen’s proposal, uniforms will be mandatory for its 780 kindergarten through sixth-grade students, Principal Ernie Morrison said.

The Oxnard school board is expected to vote on the issue within two months, Morrison said. If approved, the uniforms-only policy would take effect in January, he said.

Morrison decided to poll parents on the issue after several of them lobbied for a schoolwide uniform policy, he said. In January, Oxnard Elementary School District trustees voted to allow individual schools to require uniforms if they had a majority of parents in support, he said.

Of the 523 families who returned Emilie Ritchen’s survey, 83% said they favor uniforms, Morrison said. The principal took that as a mandate.

Support for uniforms was much weaker in a districtwide poll taken last year of parents in Ventura’s 17 elementary schools. Informal school surveys and reports from principals showed only lackluster support among parents.

But Sheridan Way Principal Trudy Arriaga conducted another survey earlier this year because many parents kept asking for uniforms, administrative assistant Kay Liddi said.

Many of them are from Mexico and noted that children in public schools in that country always wear uniforms, Liddi said. About 80% of parents who returned the surveys supported uniforms, she said.

Other reasons cited by parents and school officials who support uniforms are the elimination of social pressure to follow fashion trends and the deterrence to gang involvement.

Ventura Unified’s superintendent, Joseph Spirito, said he will allow any school that gets at least two-thirds parental approval for uniforms to move forward. There is no need for approval from the board of education, he said.

Once reserved solely for parochial school students, uniforms have been gaining support among public school educators nationwide, in part to stop street violence from entering classrooms.

The other public school in Ventura County offering uniforms is Garden Grove School in Simi Valley. Uniforms at that elementary campus are optional.

About 75% of students there wore the blue-and-white uniforms at the start of the school year, but participation dwindled as the year wore on, officials said. Students complained about the itchy pants and hot, collared shirts that had to be tucked into pants and skirts.

Lori Jacobson, the parent of a kindergartner and a first-grader at Emilie Ritchen, said she favors uniforms because they instill a sense of camaraderie and good behavior.

“I think uniforms will build a sense of being part of a team and a sense of neatness,” Jacobson said. “I think we need to be more strict with our children. We need to teach them more discipline, and uniforms will do that.”

But Maria Gonzales said she wonders how she can afford uniforms for her children at Sheridan Way.

“Already it is a struggle just to feed and clothe them,” Gonzales said. “How can we pay for uniforms?”

Spirito said the school is working on providing funds for families that want to put their children in uniforms but cannot afford them. Sheridan Way’s navy blue slacks, jumpers, shorts and skirts will be supplied by Mervyn’s.

White cotton shirts with collars will be worn with the other pieces. Prices range from $7.90 for a pair of boy’s pants with an elastic waist to $29 for a pair of more-tailored slacks.

Saillant is a Times correspondent. Lima is a Times staff writer.