According to a survey published by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2015, between the 2003-2004 school year and the 2011-2012 school year, the percentage of public schools across the country that require students to wear uniforms increased from 13 to 19 percent.Similarly, the Landsí End School Uniforms and the National Association of Elementary School Principals 2013 State of School Uniforms survey indicate that 49 percent of the 517 school principals surveyed said they have a uniform or formal dress code policy in place, or they plan to implement one. The percentage is up from 21 percent in 2000.Falcon School District 49 has a mixed bag when it comes to school clothes; some schools require uniforms and others rely on dress codes. Brian Smith, Falcon Middle School principal, said his school has a dress code policy published each year in the student handbook, and the dress code is also provided to each student on a thumb drive at the beginning of the year. ìStudents get both a digital copy and a physical copy as well, so they know what is expected of them,î Smith said.A dress code helps to ensure that students avoid distractions and stay focused on learning. ìI feel like our dress code is effective in making sure students are focusing and learning,î Smith said. ìParents sometimes say it is hard to find things within the dress code for their students to wear, and we try to respect that; but we have to keep the standards our code sets so there are not those distractions. We have to modify the code from time to time, but we do not need to revise it constantly.îKelly Warren, Banning Lewis Ranch Academy principal, said the purpose of their uniforms is also to keep students focused on academics instead of appearances. ìThey have an expectation for the color and type of shirt that they can wear, the color and type of pants or skirts they can wear and what type of shoes they can wear,î Warren said. ìIt helps the kids connect and build relationships based on who a person is. Pretty much everyone is wearing the same kinds of colors and the same kinds of things, so we are not worrying about what we are wearing.îWarren, a former principal at a school without a uniform requirement, said students act differently when they are required to dress a certain way. ìAt Banning Lewis, we have fundraising days where kids can donate a dollar to a certain charity to be able to wear jeans,î she said. ìYou can see that it does make a difference for them and maybe not in a positive way.îWearing a school uniform is like wearing a professional uniform for a job, and their job is to be students, Warren said.Likewise, Smith said when students have ìDress for Successî days, their attitudes and actions change with their nicer attire. The change is interesting to watch, he said.Warren and Smith agreed their respective dress codes provide an additional benefit by allowing the teachers and administration a chance to teach the students about respecting others, regardless of how they look or how they are dressed.Each student must follow the dress code; and, if they do not, there are consequences, Warren said. If there is an inappropriate reaction by another student because of a dress code violation, the counselors are brought in to reinforce respect among students, she said.Smith said his school handles ìpeer conflictî situations in a similar way. If a student is wearing something that does not fit with the dress code, the administration will talk to the student and address the problem, he said. ìIf someone is making fun of someone or makes an inappropriate comment to someone based on how they are dressed, either the administration or a counselor will discuss that with them, depending on the severity of the situation,î Smith said.The dress code provides guidelines for students to avoid “peer conflict” situations, Smith said. Dress code or not, how someone is dressed is never an invite for improper behavior, he added.The bottom line is that teachers and administration at the school are helping prepare kids for their future, Smith said. There is a dress code in place to make sure the students come to school ready to learn. ìAlong with that goes the reasoning behind the dress code,î he said. ìMy goal is to prepare my middle schoolers for high school, and they need to learn how to act respectfully to both boys and girls and how to dress and act appropriately.îWarren said, as a principal, she did not see a problem when she was working at a school with no uniforms, but now that she has experienced both options, she would prefer to send her own children to a school that requires uniforms.Nary Dawson, a parent with two students at Ridgeview Elementary School in D 49, said her children attended a school in another district that required a uniform. ìI loved it when the kids wore uniforms,î she said. Getting the kids dressed in the mornings was much easier because there were fewer options, and everything went together, Dawson said.According to the Landsí End School Uniform and NAESP State of School Uniforms survey, more than 90 percent of the school leaders polled believe that uniforms or dress codes eliminate wardrobe battles with kids, make it easier to get kids dressed in the mornings ó and saves time.Other parents like Brandy Thresher, who has three kids enrolled in Colorado Springs School District 11 and another about to start, believe uniforms are too conventional.”I think kids should be able to express themselves through what they wear, within the guidelines, of course,” Thresher said. “I feel that having uniforms would pull away some of their creativity and possibly make kids dislike school even more by making them dress a certain way and taking away freedom of choice.îHowever, 77 percent of those school leaders said that uniforms create pride and spirit within the school.With two girls and two boys, Thresher said she often shops at second-hand stores for their clothes or receives hand-me-down clothes from friends or family. “I have also heard a lot of other people complaining about finding stores that sell the right uniform clothes,î she said. ìIt just seems so complicated.”Complicated or not, 85 percent of the aforementioned surveyed believe that uniforms and dress codes create orderly classrooms and diminish discipline issues.
