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Advocate: City’s schools set to mandate school uniforms
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon and city school officials will roll out a plan requiring school uniforms for the city’s 82,000 public school students starting next fall, according to a radio talk show host.
The plan will be announced in about two weeks, said talk show host Tom Moore, who has presented the idea to Dixon’s office.
Mayoral spokesman Anthony McCarthy confirmed Moore had been in touch with Dixon but would not provide specific details.
“The mayor thinks it’s a very intriguing idea,” McCarthy said when queried on whether Dixon supported school uniforms. Asked about a pending news conference slated for the coming weeks, he said, “We’re not going to say anything about uniforms until we’re ready.”
Saying he was fed up with classroom distractions that impede test scores and foster disciplinarian problems, Moore said the plan poises BCPSS to be the first of the state’s 24 school districts to fall in line with the new mandate.
It will also give Baltimore the lead nationally and get other states’ districts to adopt similar requirements, said Moore, whose show airs Saturday nights on AM 680 WCMB.
“Baltimore City would be the first district in the country to make the requirement for all students,” Moore said.
“I conceived the idea and had been lobbying the mayor a long time. Research shows it reduces gang activity and will save parents hundreds of dollars on mall fashions that they don’t need.”
Moore, who said Dixon looked at the possibility while she was City Council president, said he has spoken with the state attorney general to ensure that a uniform requirement would be constitutional.
Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonso said the school uniform policy would have to be approved by the school board.
“I would have to confer with them to see how they feel about it,” he added.
He said, however, that most school districts don’t know whether uniforms have any practical impact.
“My history and knowledge of what happens [with such requirements] is based on the concerns and needs of schools,” Alonso said. “I recognize that it is a board prerogative and have seen students in uniforms in most of the schools I’ve visited in Baltimore. Wearing them have symbolic value of students being students — and being part of the community.”
drowley@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
I don't agree with the uniforms. I think the only diffrents its going to make is in my BG&E bill with the extra money ill be spending to wash two outfits a day. I think its just a way for the schools to get you for money. my childs school picked a color that is hard to find and the shirt cost $10. So uniforms do not cost this parent less money it cost me more.
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Examiner Reader said:
Uh, it looks like they did check their facts. Indianapolis has a dress code requirement for its high schools. From the article, it seems this is a system-wide proposal that encompasses uniforms grades K - 12. That goes further than what Indianapolis has.
114 agree | 94 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The statement that Baltimore would be the first city in the country to make uniforms mandatory is false. Indianapolis Public Schools already rolled out this initiative this school year. Check your facts.
117 agree | 86 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Uniforms are more inexpensive than other attire usually purchased used uniform programs exist as well.
117 agree | 85 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Uniforms enforce equality. a good learning environment and deter gang attire that has become a major issue nationwide. Uniforms help police identify who belongs in the school and who is a truant. DB
96 agree | 89 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Too, late already petitioned the uniforms with the school board, but glad you are all aboard.
107 agree | 95 disagree
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IT said:
More emphasis needs to be placed on teacher preparation and admin accountability. Uniforms only work within a system that is willing to address achievement and behavior. As a former teacher I know first hand the a great deal of my former colleagues loved teaching but lacked the professional development, support and to adequately address the needs of urban students. As usual the Mayors Office comes up with efforts that "look good" but will never have any real impact. Several of the schools in Baltimore City have a uniform policy but few inforce the dress code policy.
116 agree | 109 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Tom Moore is a bit of a pompous fool. But, uniforms are a good idea so long as they don't have a chilling effect on school attendance of poorer kids who may not be able to afford them, and who have trifling parents who can't or won't provide them.
130 agree | 90 disagree
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EXAMINER READER said:
I agree with most of the comments of 7:16, 6:48 and 5:36. Uniforms for the children are a great idea and, frankly, would be very appropriate for the teachers and staff also. However, one thing is omitted in those comments and that is the schools ought to return to the old basic curriculums in place prior to the 1950's. Children today graduate from high school without being able to write or speak correct English, can not spell, punctuate, etc., etc. They do not know their geography, most of them are at a third grade level when it comes to math and reading. Years ago, colleges did not need to have remedial courses for freshmen. If you were not at college level, you simply were not admitted. What is passing from public high schools today is deplorable. There are no standards. Home schooling, private and parochial schools today are the only salvation for our children.
112 agree | 98 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The best books, facilities, uniforms and rules mean squat if the kids don't have the desire to learn. The desire to learn is obtained from parents who set education as a priority over everything else. Latinos and Asians understand this, but sadly, too many in the African-American community emphasize sports over education. Uniforms will do nothing to improve kids' education in Baltimore City.
88 agree | 101 disagree
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hilarious... said:
in addition to uniforms, the city should also mandate year round school attendance, and improve the classroom size issue by placing one or two students inside small rooms called "learning centers" where they won't be distracted. They should also put a toilet in each learning center so that the kids don't have to leave to use the restroom, one of the peskiest distractions. lastly, we should put cots or bunk beds in these rooms to that the children can sleep there and parents don't have to worry about stupidly spending their money on that second car used to get the kids to and from school... plus they don't know how to feed their kids properly anyway, so each child would get a plate of food under the door to their learning center, twice a day, so parents wouldn't have to worry about it. and for exercise, the kids would be allowed into the "yard" for a couple hours a day to smash rocks or make license plates. hahahaha.... city govt is hilarious... so glad i moved when i had a kid
119 agree | 62 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Great Move. Now lets join carroll County as they engage in a study of year round schooling. We must also study the advantages and disadvantages of a longer school day and increasing the mandatory school attendance age to 18. Then the city will position itself and the children for success-something many said could not happen.
113 agree | 97 disagree
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