• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Tulsa School Board : Tulsa Middle School Students to Sport Uniforms in the Fall

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Andrea Eger, Tulsa World, Okla.

Apr. 18--Middle school students in the Tulsa district will have a uniform look come fall.

The Tulsa school board unanimously approved a districtwide middle school uniform policy Monday that will take effect at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

Middle school principals banded together to ask for the new rule after soliciting feedback from students and finding overwhelming support from parents in a survey.

The new policy mandates uniforms for students at the district's 10 middle schools that don't already require them, and it sets certain standards for uniform components and fit at all of the schools.

Thoreau Demonstration Academy already has a strict uniform policy that allows only certain items, and four other middle schools -- Cleveland, Hamilton, Madison, and Nimitz -- require students to wear certain colors of pants and shirts.

The school uniform policy calls for each middle school to identify uniform vendors that give parents a variety of cost options and for school leaders to identify resources to assist needy families.

Jameece Briscoe, vice president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Wilson Middle School, said she hopes the policy will help to improve student achievement, reduce peer pressure and promote school safety through easier student identification.

Linda Paine, the mother of a Carver Middle School student, told the board that she found the uniform policy at her daughter Jin-Jin Paine's former elementary school to be beneficial because it was "a kind of leveling method" for students.

Board President Matt Livingood said he approved of the policy because it was supported at each individual middle school site.

He asked that a one-year follow-up report be made to the school board with "anecdotal and statistical evidence" to show what impact school uniforms might have on attendance, behavior and learning.

Gary Percefull, the board's vice president, commended the middle school principals for their initiative and leadership in researching the school uniform proposal.

------------

Andrea Eger 581-8470 andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Tulsa World

More News in this Category