Survey says: students and parents disapprove of school uniforms
Garnet Valley School District evaluated the results of a uniform policy survey that the majority of district parents and students addressed with uniform disapproval.
The school district, which currently has a dress code in place, hosted the uniform survey on the school’s Web site in June 2009 as an opportunity to field the opinions of students, parents and guardians on the possibility of a school uniform policy. About 1,600 people responded and about 590 of the respondents were high school students.
The District Advisory Committee (DAC) created the survey after questions arose in the committee about the concept of school uniforms at Garnet Valley.
Parent representatives from each of the five schools in the district in the DAC work with school administrators and principals to help resolve questions that arise throughout the school year. Members of the DAC report back to a smaller Building Advisory Committee at each individual school.
Michael Christian, chair of the uniform survey project, is Garnet Valley School District’s assistant superintendent. He saw the project as a way to check the pulse of the district on the issue before considering any policy changes.
“Parents in the DAC were interested in gathering information to see if there was support for a uniform policy and went into it with open minds. The purpose was not to develop a policy but just to gather the opinions of people in the district,” Christian said.
The DAC developed questions to gauge the response of the district on issues surrounding uniforms, such as cost effectiveness, effect on student individuality and student behavior, improving the learning atmosphere and overall appropriateness of dress.
“We didn’t want to just ask in the survey if people were in favor or not. We wanted to address underlying issues of why a school district would consider school uniforms,” Christian said.
The survey results characterized the support from parents and guardians as moderate and the majority of students offered no support for school uniforms.
“Students for the most part did not show support and some parents showed support but not all,” he said.
The school’s current dress code was developed by a committee of school board members, administrators and parents and outlines a set of guidelines for appropriateness of dress at the district in the school’s policy book.
Items prohibited in the school’s current dress code policy include but are not limited to hats, baggy pants, chains, clothing exhibiting disruptive images or messages, low cut shirts and short skirts or shorts.
“The whole purpose for the dress code is to have a positive learning atmosphere free from distractions so that students can focus on learning,” Christian said.
Currently the district is considering reevaluating the dress code policy. The results of the uniform survey were shared with the Garnet Valley school board at a Sept. 15 meeting.
“We are looking to reevaluate the dress code since we did not receive overwhelming support for the school uniform policy,” he said.
According to Christian, the school board agreed to assemble a subcommittee of parents, students, teachers and administrators involved in the school’s BAC and DAC to review the current dress code after the start of the new year.
Christian hopes to communicate dress code policies clearly with parents so that they can help the district achieve the goal of appropriate school dress.
“In any school district you have challenges involving dress and appropriateness thereof. It’s something that parents and school district administrators need to be on [the] same page about because we need to deliver the same message to children so our focus can be on learning.” Christian said.
The school district, which currently has a dress code in place, hosted the uniform survey on the school’s Web site in June 2009 as an opportunity to field the opinions of students, parents and guardians on the possibility of a school uniform policy. About 1,600 people responded and about 590 of the respondents were high school students.
The District Advisory Committee (DAC) created the survey after questions arose in the committee about the concept of school uniforms at Garnet Valley.
Parent representatives from each of the five schools in the district in the DAC work with school administrators and principals to help resolve questions that arise throughout the school year. Members of the DAC report back to a smaller Building Advisory Committee at each individual school.
Michael Christian, chair of the uniform survey project, is Garnet Valley School District’s assistant superintendent. He saw the project as a way to check the pulse of the district on the issue before considering any policy changes.
“Parents in the DAC were interested in gathering information to see if there was support for a uniform policy and went into it with open minds. The purpose was not to develop a policy but just to gather the opinions of people in the district,” Christian said.
The DAC developed questions to gauge the response of the district on issues surrounding uniforms, such as cost effectiveness, effect on student individuality and student behavior, improving the learning atmosphere and overall appropriateness of dress.
“We didn’t want to just ask in the survey if people were in favor or not. We wanted to address underlying issues of why a school district would consider school uniforms,” Christian said.
The survey results characterized the support from parents and guardians as moderate and the majority of students offered no support for school uniforms.
“Students for the most part did not show support and some parents showed support but not all,” he said.
The school’s current dress code was developed by a committee of school board members, administrators and parents and outlines a set of guidelines for appropriateness of dress at the district in the school’s policy book.
Items prohibited in the school’s current dress code policy include but are not limited to hats, baggy pants, chains, clothing exhibiting disruptive images or messages, low cut shirts and short skirts or shorts.
“The whole purpose for the dress code is to have a positive learning atmosphere free from distractions so that students can focus on learning,” Christian said.
Currently the district is considering reevaluating the dress code policy. The results of the uniform survey were shared with the Garnet Valley school board at a Sept. 15 meeting.
“We are looking to reevaluate the dress code since we did not receive overwhelming support for the school uniform policy,” he said.
According to Christian, the school board agreed to assemble a subcommittee of parents, students, teachers and administrators involved in the school’s BAC and DAC to review the current dress code after the start of the new year.
Christian hopes to communicate dress code policies clearly with parents so that they can help the district achieve the goal of appropriate school dress.
“In any school district you have challenges involving dress and appropriateness thereof. It’s something that parents and school district administrators need to be on [the] same page about because we need to deliver the same message to children so our focus can be on learning.” Christian said.
