Survey offers parents and students voice on uniforms

The county school board wants to know what parents and students think.

As for what the board thinks, a one-page, single-question survey sent to parents offers some hints.

The board, it says, “is studying the use of uniforms in our school system in order to increase safety and security, to build school spirit and pride, and to enhance the learning atmosphere for all students.”

The survey, responses to which will be used to prepare a report to be delivered to the board Dec. 17, notes that other school systems in Maryland and across the nation have required school uniforms.

Parents, who had to return the surveys by Wednesday, were already discussing the issue this week.

“My daughter went to a Catholic school last year and had to wear a uniform. I loved them, but my daughter hated them,” said Caroline Gargiulo, who has a daughter in the third grade.

Her neighbor, Shamrock Coffee co-owner Bridget Mitchell, said that as a former Baltimore City teacher, she was skeptical about the cost of school uniforms for low-income families.

“I voted against it,” said Nancy English of Forest Hill. “They make it sound like a safety issue, but I'm not certain that's a problem where we are.”

While Gargiulo wondered whether uniforms might stifle some students’ self-expression and self-esteem, she said they would become most useful in middle school and high school, when students can become more focused on fashion than class work.

“My high schooler has seen my middle schooler with her uniform, and she's come full-circle on the issue,” said Cari Bieber, who has one daughter at Aberdeen High School and another at Trinity Lutheran. “I'm spending much less on my middle schooler. An expensive uniform store is cheaper than American Eagle.”

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com