Three elementary schools to implement uniforms in 2010

Uh...wait a minute...don't you read the news? Belville parents and Town Creek parents didn't get a chance to speak up as they were not informed. I can understand Lincoln parents speaking up. But not Belville and Town Creek. THEY WERE NOT ON THE AGENDA! How are they suppose to know to be somewhere at a certain place at a certain time and speak up if they never know it's going to be discussed? That's probably my biggest gripe over this entire situation. Not the money part but the way it was pushed throuh. Very underhanded!! Shame on you Shirley Babson and the rest of the Board of Education. You are true policians!

To me this whole controversy would not be on anyones agenda if public officials had the intestinal fortitude back in the so called "hippy days" to say no and parents would have disciplined their children. Now I know you from this generation are going to get up in arms over this, but if you had not pushed for all this "freedom of oppression" garbage, which I recall was a favorite rallying call about all the "injustices" you saw in society back then, the schools would not be half as bad as they are today. It was this movement which has taken us to this road about schools today. Where there was dicipline before the late 1960's, we now have to have police in our schools. If school boards had had the guts to say we need discipline and are going to keep it, then ask yourself what if they had? Also the courts made law not ruled on the constitutionality of some of these cases about school systems regulations, what if they had ruled like they were suppose to? When my children started school in Wilmngton, the stories they told me about the lack of discipline and the staff not being able to do anything stronger than dismissal or basically time out after school, I was shocked. Sorry but this "hippy" generation of parents are at fault for the school systems all over the country not being able to discipline students. Discipline begins at home. And it is not as simple of time out in a lot of cases. I come from the old school, where not only your parents could spank you, you could get one in school. As my generation says, a good spanking or a nice switch from the bush in the yard sure didn't hurt me today. It made me a better person because I learned the old adage respect your parents and elders. You didn't sass or talk back to teachers. Parents taught respect for teachers. Parents are responsible for how their children behaved in class. Today, I don't believe a lot of parents are willing to really come down hard on their child's behavior because either the child could turn them over to the police for punishing them to hard or may not believe in tough love. Don't get me wrong there a few cases where the police would need to be called. I can't tell you how many times I have heard teachers say they were blamed by the parents for johnny's failing grade. Parents don't go to PTA meetings because I believe they want the schools raising their children rather than them. They are just lazy! Teach your shild from the earliest age, they are responsible for their behavior until the day they die! Discipline equals how you present yourself to the public. When I see the boys of all ethnicities walking arround with their pants at half past the crack of their butt, girls, skinny or fluffy, either wearing clothes which look like they were poured into or every roll of fat is either hanging out or inside spandex, latex, or whatever the material is, I think what the hell are the parents doing letting their child out looking like this? Personally I don't want to see the blubber hanging out under their clothes and don't want to see what kind of underwear the guys are wearing. So I ask where are your parents? Do they make their child look in the mirror and see what they really will look like to john q public? If they did, I don't believe they would step out of the house looking as they do. You slimmer young ladies playing peek a boo with your clothes can really lead you down a road you will wish you never had traveled. Appearance is everything in society today and yesterday. If there was strong discipline at home, this would follow suit in schools therefore no need for uniforms in public school. However if the school boards lets the kids wear the uniforms like they do when they get home, then there is no use for a uniform. Until society is ready to let the school systems around the country go back to tough love discipline, then you will have to have uniforms in school. This is for some of the parents out there!! What is so terribly wrong with tough love i.e. discipline? Your childs behavior in public reflects directly back to you. So don't blame the school boards or administrator for all the wrongs in the system today. They surely are just as big of a factor as the parents in the lack of tough love. Look at yourselves parents, then your child. Do they reflect your ideals of how they should act when out in the public eye. If they don't, then you look in the mirror. The image you see is the one really at fault.

Hand down the uniforms.

My daughter has a sensory disorder and the uniforms that I can get her to wear are actually not uniform skits, they are just tan and black cotton skirts..The polos were a little more tricky but we were able to find cotton ones that she'd wear. Its a challenge but it can be done. She nows perfers to wear the "uniform" on her days off for ease of finding clothes. Her choice.

I would think that it is possible to make an exception on a case by case basis for children with special needs.

Special needs or not, individuals must learn to adapt. Just because someone "wants to wear red because it is soothing" does not mean that it is acceptable to do so unless red is included in the uniform guidelines. If wearing a collar feels like "cut glass" then I'd say such an indidual has such significant issues at hand that perhaps they should not be in a public school at all. Life is about adapting to the rules/laws set forth by society. Perhaps if children start learning this at an early age through something as simple as wearing a uniform, there will be fewer instances of nonconformity and strife in the future caused by individuals who feel it is their right to "express themselves" through breaking the rules.

It should be county wide or not at all. I also think that if we are going to have uniforms then the teachers should be required to be in uniform also. What a double standard...do as I say not as I do never works with children! Make it across the board for all school and all faculty or not at all.

You say there is no freedom of choice and that it is more expensive to buy polos and khakis than jeans and a T-shirt. That is just not true. I just bought 4 solid color long sleeved polo shirts at Kohls for 3.10 each off the clearance rack. That's even cheaper than Wal Mart. Last time I looked polos at Wal Mart were around 5 or 6 bucks and khakis were around 10 bucks. Jeans were more expensive. As a parent I have already told the LMS administration that I would be more than happy to donate money or clothing for families who can't afford to purchase these items, and there are other parents I talk to who are willing to do the same. And in the letter it said that the school would be working with major area clothing chains (including Wal Mart and JC Penney) to come up with a plan to work with parents of LMS students in the purchasing of the proposed items. I do not believe that LMS administration would ever let a student be singled out in the case of a family who is in financial hardship. I already donate supplies for the schools my kids attend because teachers already spend so much out of pocket. There are kids that I know of whose parents can't seem to find the money to buy clothes, paper, pencils and basic school necessities, but they sure find the money to pull up to the school in a brand new SUV while they are yapping on their brand new Blackberry. If you spent any time in the schools, you would see the reason why we need to do something. And as a parent there are times when I believe we should listen to what our kids want. However, this is not one of those times. Of course a teenager is going to tell you that they do not want to be held to a more stringent standard of dress! You cannot tell me that just about every kid does not already have some of the clothing items being discussed (jeans in black or blue, black,khaki or navy pants, collared, solid colored shirts,). This idea should be given a chance to work. Let's do it and see. And by all means if it doesn't help, then you are more than welcome to say "I told you so" and I will readily say "you were right."