No, I haven't been posting as often I as intended. Mea culpa

Maybe I'll get back on track with this post. My topic is simple: school uniforms--or campus wear, for the politically precise in my audience. As they are currently defined and implemented in my district, I don't believe in them. This year, because my position changed, I can conveniently not deal with the massive percentage of non-complying students. And is that the coward's way out? Maybe. But I am going on record as saying that uniforms are the worst thing to have happened to my school since it started. No contest, in fact.

There are two major areas that I see as the basis of the problem. First, the policy is flawed from inception to implementation. Secondly, the enforcement issues are divisive and disruptive to school culture--which we claim is a priority to us.

How is the policy flawed? The issues are long and byzantine. Here's the short list, in no particular order:

• The process for deciding to go have a uniform policy had a long list of problems. The meetings were supposedly open to the public, but hand-picked people were the nucleus of the committee. The "open" meetings were held at odd times, and after the first couple, the times and places of the meetings were not communicated very well--for instance, MI's teachers were not aware that anything more than an exploratory survey was being done, then suddenly, the proposal for the policy was presented to the public and the board.
• The aforementioned surveys were completely disregarded. High school students, parents and teachers were massively opposed; middle school opposed, but not as strongly; elementary about even, but more against than for uniforms. However, discussion ended and the policy was devised. The surveys were non-binding, of course--a school is not a democracy. But why survey as if input is wanted when the results were completely disregarded with no discussion?
  
• We can teach our students that sometimes, you have to follow the rules just because they are the rules. I understand that. Other times, we have to teach our students to ask questions, to consider paradigms and situations. If we can't defend the rule against their questions and concerns, is it a good rule? Can we explain what the purpose of uniforms is and why we believe they are a good and necessary part of our plan to improve student's education?
• The point of uniforms has not been clearly explained to the students. Many students believe that the uniforms are punishment for not being a "good" school. They point out that the suburban schools never even discuss uniforms; they don't need to punish their students for not being smart or for behavior issues. When students went to the committee last year and asked that question, it was not answered. The committee couldn't believe the students were questioning why the policy existed, according to the students who were there and an adult in attendance. IF the students understood the purpose and were convinced it was valid, there would be a lot less non-compliance.
• Go to local stores and try to buy plus size pants, sweaters and shirts that fit the criteria. Even the official place--Andersons--is very limited sizewise, and it only takes a moment to realize how many plus size students we have. I know students who have a very difficult time getting uniform pieces that comfortably fit.
• Students must learn to dress appropriately for school and work. Of course. Does the uniform teach them that? When I consider the types of jobs that define "uniform" so specifically, the jobs are pretty low on the totem pole. The kind of jobs we say we want to prepare our students for--the types requiring college--have a different standard for "appropriate" dress. Does fussing about the correct shade of blue or what sweater is according to code really help students develop a style sense for appropriate clothes? I don't think so. I'm afraid that it prepares them to accept rules without question; to be worker bees instead of policy-makers.
• Last, their parents are worker bees, not policy-makers. Could this have happened in a suburban school? Possibly. But many of the issues we're dealing with would have disappeared when the first parent said, "I called my lawyer and..." Our parents do not expect to have a voice in decision-making, either; the upside of that is simply that we don't have to concern ourselves with organized squeaky wheels--just with the occasional shouting, angry parent who is an anomaly.
  

There are probably more reasons for this category. If I need to, I'll revise later. For now, that's enough. The part that concerns me almost more is simpler to explain: The uniform policy is divisive and destructive to my school.

My school worked hard to create relationships within the teaching staff and with the students. That's been a priority. We've taken 30 some different people, different histories and experiences, and formed a damn good staff--a group I'm proud to be associated with. Through all the forming and storming and norming, we learned to work together. That meant learning what each other's strengths were, what their challenges were, and how together we could forge bonds to make us all stronger. Sometimes that meant compromise; sometimes that meant agreeing to disagree, trusting that whatever was done was done with the good of the school in mind--assume positive intent was the mantra.

That's not possible with the uniform policy. There's no way to compromise on enforcement. If it's enforced strictly in some rooms, loosely in others, then some people are always the "bad guy" for not dealing with obvious infractions. And the point has been made that we are in charge of enforcing the rules. If the rules need changed, work within the system to change them--but enforce them in the meantime.

I understand that I have colleagues who sincerely believe that. I believe equally as strongly that the system is flawed for the reasons listed above, and I have a responsibility to the students to teach them what really matters--and that's not how to remember to tuck in a 3 button polo shirt.

See the problem? There's not an easy middle ground, especially when there are genuine issues with enforcement and definition (for instance, describe a polo shirt in detail. Now, is that the ONLY allowable style? Trickier than you may think....). So, after several years of team building, we now have a clear but currently silent divide between three philosophies: the rule followers (who correctly point out that they are just doing their job), the semi-compliers (they don't want to get in trouble for not doing their job, so they at least make a token attempt whether they believe in the policy or not) and the refuse-niks (who seem to view their room as sanctuary--political prisoners can seek asylum there!). In fairness, I know refuse-niks who remind kids to tuck in, etc, as they leave the room, so they are not inciting rioting in the hallways. But in practice, I understand that it's still giving the kids mixed messages about the policy, thus undermining it.

Furthermore, we'd worked hard to be the masters of our own fate, the ones with our hand on the helm. Of course the district has the power to make a policy like this, but the constant chipping away of our automony is a perpetual concern. IF we could have helped make the policy, IF students could wear shirts with our logo, IF the school could adopt jeans day policy, we could have been part owners of the process. Isn't that what small schools was about? This policy has weakened us. How can I roll over and accept that which harms us? Hyperbole, maybe--but with an underlying Truth.

So why did I write this? Anyone who knows me probably knows my position on this. But I haven't laid out my argument point by point, and I do feel the need to do that--and since I'm in my office, easily ignoring the myriad infractions, I had to make sure no one took that for caving in, I guess. "Do not go gentle into that good night, but rage, rage against the dying light"--of course!