Santa Paula Adopts School Uniform Policy

Joining a handful of local districts making school uniforms mandatory, students on five campuses in the Santa Paula Elementary School District will be required to don uniforms for the 1998-99 academic year.

The change comes on the heels of a Santa Paula survey that showed nearly 80% of parents support school uniforms.

“Off and on, parents have wanted uniforms,” said district spokeswoman Pat Untiedt. “But when we finally put a survey together, we were really surprised--77% and 80% of parents supported them.”

Officials hope that if children from kindergarten to eighth grade wear uniforms, school safety will improve, ethnic and racial tensions will abate and economic differences will lessen.

Two of the five schools had already implemented a uniform policy on a voluntary basis: Glen City and Grace Thille. Uniforms will be mandatory at those schools at the beginning of the upcoming semester.

The other three schools--Isbell Middle School, Blanchard and McKevett--will begin with a voluntary policy in September. In January uniforms will become mandatory at those campuses, too.

Bedell and Webster schools will not go to uniforms, according to the district. No parent survey was conducted at Bedell because of a change in principals.

Most of the schools are implementing loose fashion guidelines--white collared shirts and blue slacks, shorts or skirts.

But McKevett Elementary will go a step further--requiring boys to wear either navy blue pants or knee-length shorts, and girls to wear knee-length shorts with cuffs, jumpers or knee-length skirts. In addition to the standard white collared shirts in either white or red, all shoes must have closed toes. Girls cannot wear platform shoes or heels.

Any parent who does not want their child to wear a uniform, however, may sign a waiver to be excused from the policy.

Suzi Skutley, whose 11-year-old daughter, Jennifer, will attend Isbell Middle School this year, said she will be signing the waiver.

“For one thing, it’s an added expense, to have to buy something specifically for school,” she said. “And she doesn’t want to. She dresses responsibly. She doesn’t wear gang attire or baggy clothes. I don’t feel she should be pressured into it just because other parents feel that way.”

Skutley said she understands that schools will offer incentives for students to wear uniforms--perhaps giving coupons for sodas at local stores for those who participate.

But she added that her daughter will strive for other kinds of recognition--like academic excellence.

Norah Byrom, principal at Glen Thille Elementary, which was chosen as one of California’s Distinguished Schools last year, said some of her students began wearing uniforms in January after parents demanded it.

At a meeting last fall, about 70 Glen Thille parents said they wanted to try uniforms. Following the meeting, the school sent survey forms home with students asking parents if they wanted uniforms.

Although some parents were concerned about cost, about 95% indicated they were in favor.

Byrom said parents have gotten creative, and lots of bargain stores now carry the blue bottoms and white tops.

“Parents are happy,” she said. “There are no arguments in the morning about what am I going to wear. And the kids seem pretty proud of themselves. They think they look pretty good--a little bit professional.”

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.