School Uniforms Get Initial Board Approval

Forget fashion trends. White shirts and navy pants or skirts may be de rigueur for some students in the Orange Unified School District this fall.

School Board members gave preliminary approval Thursday night to a policy that allows individual schools to require uniforms.

All of the district’s middle schools and several elementary schools have been planning for the policy and are well on the way to requiring uniforms for their students, Assistant Supt. Neil McKinnon said.

First, though, they must meet the state Education Code requirement for a broad consensus on the issue, McKinnon said. “The procedure is to get community support so parents are not surprised by the policy.”

Of the 10 schools working toward that, all have surveyed parents and held community meetings to measure support. Results show that 85% to 90% of parents approve of the idea.

Parents have told administrators that they would favor uniforms as a way to reduce competition among students to wear trendy, expensive outfits, officials said.

The state code also states that schools must draft a waiver policy for parents who do not want uniforms and that parents must be included in choosing the specific style of the uniform.

Schools must give at least six months’ notice before the policy goes into effect and must offer financial aid to low-income families to buy the clothes.

Besides the district’s middle schools, McKinnon said, Sycamore, West Orange, Jordan and California elementary schools are considering the policy.