COSTA MESA : Uniform Makes Students Stylish

Elizabeth Quezada had no trouble choosing what to wear on her first day back in class after summer break.

“I just put my uniform on and went to school,” said the 10-year-old Wilson Elementary fifth-grader, sporting navy blue shorts and a white blouse. “I feel like I’m going to school now.”

Wilson has already pioneered in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District by implementing an alternate calendar, which shortens summers and expands traditional holidays. Now the kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school is first in the 27-school district to adopt uniforms.

On the first day of school Wednesday, the new uniforms drew mostly praise from parents, teachers and the kids wearing them.

“I think they look great,” said 10-year-old Abdul Kaiyum. “The blue and white looks nice when we line up in the morning.”

“People don’t laugh at what other people are wearing because we are all wearing the same clothes,” said Angela Morales, 10.

Parents who don’t want their children to wear uniforms can fill out a waiver. Only two sets of parents have signed the waiver.

For nearly three years, parents have been working with school officials to get their children into uniforms. Last year, the parent-driven effort was tested as parents dressed their children in uniforms on a voluntary basis.

“But it didn’t catch on,” Wilson Principal Sandy Bundy said. “So parents moved to formalize it this year.”

School district officials were on hand to witness Wilson’s uniform debut, and at least one parent called the principal of nearby Whittier Elementary to ask if that school was going to have uniforms.

“It’s definitely a parent issue,” said Whittier Principal Juan de Jesus, whose school is studying the issue. “A parent called me this morning and said how nice the Wilson kids looked.”

Parents at Wilson said uniforms are easier to manage, more affordable than buying a child’s wardrobe, and a better way to identify children from Wilson Elementary, which has 530 students.

“It’s best for the children in that there will not be any discrimination because of what the children wear,” said Martha Curiel, mother of a first-grader and a third-grader. “This way all children can get integrated.”

Eddy Dattler, a kindergarten teacher for 19 years, agreed.

“It puts them on equal footing, and that’s very nice,” Dattler said. “They don’t have to be anxious about which kids have the latest mod fashion, which even at this age is very important.”