FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Uniforms Arrive at Elementary School

The school uniforms that didn’t arrive in time for classes last year at Roch Courreges Elementary are finally here.

Courreges started a voluntary uniform policy last year, becoming the first Fountain Valley district school to do so. But the program hit a snag when Cherokee Uniforms, the company selected to provide the clothing, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Nothing arrived in time for the first day of school, and many parents were so upset that they canceled their orders.

“Everybody was so discouraged,” PTA co-chair Pat Kaizoji said. The program, she said, “never got off the ground.”

Parents and teachers are trying again, with cooperation from the La Habra company that took over Cherokee’s account with the school.

On Wednesday, representatives of School Uniform Specialists brought the unsold inventory to the campus so that parents and children could make last-minute purchases for the first day of school today.

Parent Karin Turner, shopping with daughter Kaitlyn, a first-grader, said that the $190 clothing order she placed last year didn’t arrive until May and was still incomplete. “I was so mad,” Turner said.

Turner said she favors uniforms for youngsters “because you don’t have to worry about what they’ll wear to school.”

Other parents agreed as they browsed among stacks of polo shirts, navy and khaki shorts, pants, culottes and plaid skirts and jumpers.

“I’m very pro-uniform,” said Gina Gali, who was at the sale with her daughter, Linda, 9. “I hope one day they make it a requirement.”

Uniforms help to improve self-discipline, boost self-esteem and eliminate peer competition over clothing brands and labels, Gali said.

Some students were less enthusiastic. Fifth-grader Kaela Dawson, 10, decided to make only one purchase--a school-logo polo shirt that she said she will wear only for field trips.

“If it’s not mandatory, why do it?” Kaela asked.

Principal Lorraine Leavitt said she hopes most students will choose the uniform even though it is not required.

“I see it as something worthwhile,” she said, citing the “convenience factor” for parents. “They have less fights with their children over clothes in the morning,” she said.