Trustees Approve Policy Requiring Uniforms at 2 Oxnard Grade Schools

It mattered little that all the other 839 students at Dennis McKinna School wore whatever they wanted, short of violating the campus dress code.

For the last three months, the parents of first-grader Stephanie Ochoa scooted their child off to school suited up in a uniform: white polo shirts and blouses, navy blue jumpers, shorts and skirts.

“[Her parents] take this very seriously,” said first-grade teacher Margaret Steketee.

Soon, the rest of Stephanie’s peers, preschoolers to sixth-graders, will follow suit.

On Wednesday night, trustees unanimously approved a policy requiring students at McKinna and the 840-student Lemonwood Elementary School to wear uniforms. The vote came after the idea received overwhelming support from parents at both campuses.

The program will be voluntary at first, but six months from now it will become mandatory. State law, however, allows parents to receive a waiver for their child upon request.

The matter of uniform requirements has been met in some cases with fierce resistance by parents at some campuses in the Ventura and Fillmore districts. Efforts to require uniforms were quashed at Balboa Middle School and Fillmore’s junior high and high school campuses after failing to receive enough support.

Critics have argued that uniforms stifle the notion of creativity and encourage students to behave in a conformist manner. But the push to require uniforms has been especially strong in Oxnard for safety reasons, parents said.

“I think the parents thought that it would be safer for the kids on the streets to wear uniforms, because these days, there are things happening that are pretty scary,” Principal John MacArthur said. “If they wear baggy clothes on the streets, they could be misjudged to be gang members.”

McKinna and Lemonwood will join two other Oxnard campuses--Frank Intermediate School and Emilie Ritchen--which began requiring uniforms this just-completed school year.

From individual school polls taken throughout the county, uniform requirements appear to enjoy solid support, especially among Latino parents.

Many who attended public schools in Latin American countries grew up with uniforms and are comfortable with the idea, said Celia Gonzalez, a McKinna parent.

“When I was in school, I was wearing it and really liked wearing it,” said Gonzalez, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico. “You have to come to school and wear these school colors. There’s pride in wearing a uniform to school.” At 80%, McKinna has the second-highest percentage of Latinos in the district.

A poll taken in February showed that 88% of the parents who responded favored uniforms. Of the 760 surveys sent out, 632--or 82%--were returned.

A similar poll that drew responses from 87% of parents at Lemonwood School showed even stronger support. About 97% of the 613 parents approved the idea.

Parents have been busy browsing through outfits from Mervyn’s, Sears, Kmart and JC Penney.

With the same school colors, both campuses will be wearing similar uniforms. For boys, that means blue shorts or slacks and white or yellow shirts with collars. Girls may don blue pinafores, jumpers, skirts, “skorts”--a skirt, short combination--and shorts and white or yellow, collared shirts.

Other campuses such as E.O. Green Junior High in the Hueneme Elementary School District and Rio Real Elementary and Rio Del Valley Intermediate School, both in the unincorporated area of El Rio, also began requiring uniforms during this just-completed school year.