Uniforms to Be Worn at 2 Rio Schools in Fall

Some say it will make schools safer and more conducive to learning. Others say it won’t make a bit of difference.

But beginning in the fall, students, parents and administrators at two Oxnard schools will find out for themselves whether a new dress code means new attitudes.

In a unanimous vote, the Rio School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved a plan to require uniforms at Rio Del Valle Junior High and Rio Plaza Elementary School.

Rio Del Valle will be the first junior high or intermediate school in Ventura County with such a policy, but another--E.O. Green Middle School in Oxnard--is considering a similar plan.

Just two months after school uniforms got President Clinton’s endorsement, backers of strict dress codes at public schools are slowly gaining momentum in Ventura County. A handful of other schools in Oxnard and Ventura are considering following the trail blazed over the last two years by Sheridan Way Elementary in Ventura, Arroyo West Elementary in Moorpark and Garden Grove Elementary in Simi Valley, which have adopted uniforms.

In the Rio School District, parents were the driving force behind uniforms.

“The parents initiated this at both schools,” said board President Ernest Almanza. “But I am all for it.” Almanza said other schools in the district are likely to follow suit.

The interest in uniforms began earlier this year, when parents contacted the principals at both schools and asked them to consider a strict dress code, said David Gomez, assistant superintendent for educational services.

“The parents were concerned with school safety and gangs,” Gomez said. Though there is no problem with gangs at the schools now, the parents wanted to take a preemptive approach, Gomez said.

The schools conducted surveys to gauge interest in the plan. The results were clear: 78% of parents at Rio Del Valle and 70% at Rio Plaza supported the idea. At each school, only 7% of parents were opposed to it.

The support was particularly high among Latino parents in the predominantly Latino district, Gomez said.

The schools will decide on the specifics of the uniforms and present them for board approval before the end of the academic year.

At Rio Del Valle, principal Shirley Herrera-Perez said she will form a committee of parents, students and administrators to discuss uniforms.

“We want the kids to be part of the decision,” she said.

The clothing being considered includes dark pants, shorts or skirts, and an option of white shirts or a shirt of a color chosen by the students, Herrera-Perez said.

Advocates of school uniforms all point to the Long Beach Unified School District, where students in kindergarten through eighth grade began wearing uniforms in 1994.

“Discipline problems and gang-related problems have gone down and school safety has gone up,” Gomez said. “It gives kids a sense of identity with the school.”

At Wednesday’s school board meeting, a handful of students spoke against the proposal on the grounds that it would limit their freedom.

“This is a free country and we should be able to wear what we want to wear,” said 13-year-old Melissa Larson in an interview Thursday. Melissa is a seventh-grader at Rio Del Valle whose mother spearheaded the call for uniforms. “I don’t think it will have any impact on how students behave. It’s just clothes.”

Some parents agree. In Ventura, a plan to turn Will Rogers Elementary into a so-called basic school with strict academic standards received overwhelming support--except when it came to uniforms.

“I don’t believe uniforms will change kids’ attitudes,” said Jennifer Cox, PTA president at Will Rogers. Students will still be able to identify who is in a gang and who is not, who is rich and who is poor, Cox said. “If I want my kids to wear uniforms, I can send them to private school.”

School administrators have backed away from requiring strict uniforms in the basic school at Will Rogers.

In any case, Rio district parents who oppose uniforms can file a waiver on behalf of their children, said Mary Anne McCabe, director of school facilities.

By law, school districts are required to give parents the opportunity to opt out of uniform policies.

Those who support uniforms agree that parental support is essential.

“It’s really a parent’s decision,” said Trudy Arriaga, principal at Sheridan Way in Ventura, where a voluntary school uniform policy was implemented earlier this year. Arriaga said 85% of parents polled at her school were in favor of the voluntary uniforms. Though about two-thirds of students wore uniforms earlier in the academic year, the number has dropped to about one-third, Arriaga said.