Manzanita School Committee Forms to Consider Student Uniforms

After parents last year broached the idea, a committee of parents and faculty at Manzanita Elementary School has been formed to study whether students should be required to wear uniforms.

“We told them, if there is an interest here in doing some research on it and surveying the population, let’s do it in the fall,” Principal Gayle Hughes said.

“We figured that, if people were really interested, they would come out of the woodwork, and we would pursue it. If we didn’t get anybody, we would drop it. Well, they did come out of the woodwork.”

Hughes said the school has formed a committee of eight parents and four school employees. Committee members are contacting other districts and tapping state and other educational resources to research the pros and cons of school uniform policies and implementation factors, so the school can be well-informed before surveying the school population, Hughes said.

Some of the factors the school will consider include cost to parents, what to do if parents refuse and whether there will be any significant changes, positive or negative, as a result of implementing such a policy.

“Once we do the research, then we will move to the educational stage,” Hughes said. “We will try to share with the educational community what we have found in educational resources.

“We want people to make an informed decision. When we feel the parents understand and the school community understands, then we will make a survey to see if there really is an interest.”

Conejo Valley Unified School District Supt. Jerry C. Gross said no other schools in the district require students to wear uniforms. However, he said the district is open to the idea.

“We have from time to time discussed it with principals,” Gross said. “We also said that we would be interested in receiving any proposals. We’ve told people that if you’ve got proposals that you want to pursue, then we are here.”