School uniforms: The look of change in ’09

By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When the new school year started last week, students at Gwinnett County’s Simonton Elementary had a new look — a uniform look.

Hannah Montana T-shirts, blue jeans and sandals were out, replaced by collared shirts in black, yellow and white with coordinating shorts, skirts and slacks and closed-toe shoes.

Miles away in Clayton County, the trend toward uniform dress, which was already in the elementary and middle schools, became the countywide standard as it moved into the high schools.

At Lovejoy High School, principal Keith Colbert expected resistance. “This is change, and change is not easy for a lot of people,” he said.

But Colbert, a no-nonsense administrator who requires his athletes to be role models with pants up and shirts in, has been pleasantly surprised.

“I was prepared to battle with a lot of students, but a majority of our students are conforming,” he said. “And nobody feels out of place.”

Some Lovejoy students, who said they were initially skeptical, by week’s end were resigned, if not receptive to the change.

“I don’t like it,” said Morris Mitchell, a senior and member of Lovejoy’s basketball team. “But I want to play college ball, so I got to accept it.”

Cheyna Williams, a 10th-grader at Lovejoy, said the uniform dress helped take the stress out of back-to-school shopping for her parents. And students, who in the past weren’t always comfortable with their dress, are “walking down the hall with a whole new attitude,” she said.

“The first day you could tell: Wow, this will be good for everyone.”

Dozens of public schools in metro Atlanta have policies on uniforms, or the less restrictive uniform dress, even though reports are mixed as to whether that actually helps boost student achievement.

At Simonton, principal Dot Schoeller said, her message is: “If you come to school in play clothes, you’re here to play. If you come in professional clothes, then you’re here to work.”

She’s been heaping compliments on the older students, telling them they could pass for “college kids.”

“It doesn’t hurt to get them thinking that way, even if they’re only 10,” Schoeller said.

Colbert said he hopes the move to uniforms will help improve academic performance at Lovejoy, which last year failed to make adequate yearly progress, a benchmark of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

But he also believes it will teach the students a lesson that they carry with them long beyond high school.

“At first we were fighting against the culture of ‘this is the way we dress,’ but I asked them not to settle for that — want more, pick up your appearance,” Colbert said. “Now it’s global competition, and we have to get our kids ready for that. How you present yourself is a big part of that.”

Simonton parents like Keyna Layfield and John Waldon said they are on board.

“The uniforms were an awesome idea,” Layfield said. “For one, it’s convenient. You already know what your kid’s going to wear for the whole week.”

Her fourth-grader, Jalen, is “fine with it,” she said. “He told me: ‘I don’t mind wearing it, Mom, as long as I look cool.”

Waldon said daughter Kyra came narrowly close last year to missing making the honor roll for the first time because she and some of her classmates were fussing over the latest Hannah Montana wear. “It was about fashion, and this is in the second grade,” he said.

When Schoeller told him about the plan for uniform dress, Waldon said: “I told her I’m gung-ho. I’m all in.”