Uniform dress policy expands to all Clayton schools

Khaki is not cute.

That was the consensus among high school students in Clayton County on Friday as they learned jeans, tiny tees, black leggings and camouflage cargo pants would be replaced with khaki and polo shirts next year.

“I can’t be looking cute in khakis,” Jonesboro High School sophomore Taylor Boyd said as she waited for a ride Friday afternoon. “You walk down the hallway now and a boy looks at your butt. You got no butt in khakis.”

Clayton County schools’ new uniform dress policy will make it a lot harder to get a date in school, said Boyd and her friends, who were all dressed in blue jeans, little sweaters and hoodies.

But that’s exactly what school leaders want to hear.

Starting next school year, all 50,000 Clayton students will be required to wear khaki pants and skirts, polo shirts and sweaters in their school colors, Jonesboro High principal Carl Jackson said Thursday.

Uniform dress, which is a bit more flexible than traditional uniforms, will help promote stronger academics and a safer campus, Jackson told parents.

Jonesboro sophomore Jonathan Seib said he doesn’t think uniforms will help his grades. “I feel more comfortable in jeans,” Seib said Friday afternoon.

This year, Clayton made uniform dress mandatory at all of its 37 elementary schools and some of its middle schools. Administrators had said they would hold off on enforcing the policy in high schools.

But that was before four Clayton high school students were gunned down and threats of gang violence began trickling into the hallways.

“With all the deaths, they think the uniforms will change things,” Riverdale High School sophomore Chelsea Liverpool said as she shopped at Southlake Mall in Morrow. “But it’s just going to make things worse because students will rebel. People will get mad and react.”

Liverpool said she doesn’t feel safe at Riverdale High now and doesn’t think uniforms will change that. Dressed in black jeans and high black boots, Liverpool said she likes to express her individuality through her clothes and doesn’t want to be viewed the same as her classmates.

On Friday, dozens of parents called Clayton school headquarters after hearing about the new dress code. The majority of parents are supportive of the change, but had questions.

School officials declined to talk about the new policy on Friday. Jackson escorted a reporter off his campus.

The only other public school system in the Metro area to require uniform dress at all grade levels is the 2,700-student Buford City School System in Gwinnett County.

Unlike Clayton, Buford High School students had a say in the dress code. The principal met with groups of students last year to gauge their opinions before finalizing the policy.

Clayton officials sent out surveys to parents over the summer about standardized dress at the elementary and middle level, but not at the high schools.

On Friday, many students said still didn’t know about the new policy.

“Are you kidding me?” asked Jonesboro freshman Courtney Walker. “I’d rather wear jeans and polo shirts if we’re forced to do so. Khakis aren’t going to change anything. Boys are still going to sag their pants and let their underwear hang out.”

DeKalb County voters earlier this month approved a non-binding referendum to have school uniforms in elementary schools. But many DeKalb elementary schools already have uniforms and the vote, which is advisory only, is not expected to force action by the school system.

Former DeKalb Superintendent Johnny Brown in 2002 started “Dress for Success” — a system-wide uniform-like dress code that required children to dress in school-specific colors, beyond the usual rules of no short shorts or exposed stomachs.

It didn’t catch on, especially in middle and high schools. Some students and parents also openly ridiculed it.

Brown’s successor, Superintendent Crawford Lewis, had an antidote, saying soon after he took the job that “I couldn’t care less what colors kids wear.” Under Lewis, individual schools can opt to have uniforms; all are expected to emphasize the importance of tucking in shirts and pulling up pants.

In Fulton County, about 10 of the regular public schools have voluntary uniform programs. But all five charter schools require uniforms, including the Fulton Science Academy, which has 462 students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Principal Kenan Sener said he noticed a dramatic change when, with backing from a majority of parents, when the Alpharetta school started requiring students to wear uniforms six years ago.

“There’s no distractions,” Sener said. “And the students who are economically disadvantaged don’t have to worry. They are not any different from any other student.”

That’s exactly what Boyd and her friends worry about: looking like everyone else.

“It’s so ugly,” the 15-year-old said. “I guess I won’t be looking cute.”

— Staff writers Kristina Torres, Nancy Badertscher and Laura Diamond contributed to this report.