Parents Voice Concerns About Uniform Code of Dress Policy

The Newport School Committee and dozens of local parents gathered again Wednesday night to discuss the at the middle school and elementary school level. A majority of the parents voiced opposition to the proposal, and even threatened to ignore the policy if it was implemented.

A major point of the discussion focused on not implementing a new uniform code of dress policy, but rather strictly enforcing the current dress code. Several parents questioned why their students were being punished with a uniform dress code when they as parents made sure they went to school every day dressed “appropriately.”

School Committee Chair Patrick Kelley said the difference between the current dress code and the proposed uniform code of dress would be “a lot less ambiguity,” by only allowing a certain style of shirt, pants and shoes.

Superintendent John H. Ambrogi said the initiative was born from parents suggesting a uniform code of dress to help with behavioral problems in the schools.

“There has been much research about the positive effects of uniform dress codes in schools,” he said. “We all believe that how a youngster dresses in the school in a large measure impacts on overall orderliness in the school environment.”

But many parents who spoke out at the forum said dress code and behavior had no direct link, and that wearing khaki pants and a blue polo would not change how students behave.

School committee member Robert Leary said he was the only one on the committee to vote against the uniform code of dress, to the applause of the audience.

Parent Melissa Pattavina offered up another solution to accommodate parents who did not feel the need to monitor their children’s dress more closely. She suggested the possibility of implementing an optional dress code such as Underwood had done a few years ago.

“Parents that liked it got to do it, and it also encouraged other people to try it,” she said. Pattavina said over the years the school amassed a trade-in closet for parents who were strapped financially and couldn’t afford to buy new clothes in accordance with the policy.

Parents still opposed said the uniform code of dress is another financial burden, especially for military parents who stay for a year or less, but still have to buy a new wardrobe for their children. Hindering the students’ creativity and freedom of expression was another concern several parents had with the policy.

The school committee presented suggestions to change the policy they received prior to the forum, which included changing the color of the pants, allowing additional colors of shirts, not specifying shoe or sock color, making allowances for days students to have physical education, allowing shirts with school logo, among others. The committee said they would take those suggestions and the ones presented by attending parents at the forum and “go back to the drawing board.”

Ambrogi said that of the 23 percent of parents who answered the survey sent out earlier in the year asking parents if they supported the uniform code of dress, he said about 79 percent responded they would support it.

If passed, students who do not adhere to the dress code policy are first sent the dean, and if they continue to break the code detentions will be issued and parents called in.

“Any kind of policy or code has to be enforced,” committee member Sandra Flowers said. “You can have all the dress codes in the world, if they’re not being enforced across the board for everyone they won’t work.”

Committee member Jo Eva Gaines said parents were focusing too much on the word “uniform” when the intent of the policy was to prohibit coming to school in attire such as pajamas and flip flops.

“It’s a problem of semantics. Somehow the world uniform outshined everything else,” she said. “We’re not talking about a uniform as in at Cluny. . . We’re talking about improving the code of dress our kids wear.”

By the end of the forum, Gaines said she appreciated the amount of emphasis being put on enforcing the current dress code and said the committee would go over what the school policy currently states, how it is working ways enforcement can be improved.

“Hearing from parents is vital,” she said. “What I’m hearing is let’s work with what we have.”