So my husband spoke with the superintendent last night and she said they have always let the individual schools make their own uniform decisions. However, this is not a written policy. We have a school board right now that believes in more board control, not less, because the administration has run willy nilly with stuff like this (and political hiring, and hiring friends...) so my husband thinks at the meeting tomorrow night he can get the board to agree to stop all schools from making these kinds of decisions until the board gets a written policy in place and a process for making these kinds of changes.

This week will be fun. I have to be at school tomorrowfor the volunteer luncheon, Wed for the school picnic, and Wed night for the PTO meeting. Can't wait.
In know, dlf, I have thought about that. I have to be careful about what I do publically because of my husband.The education reporter in town would find "New school board member's wife raises stink over school uniforms" to be much more of a story than "Principal counts non votes as a yes in attempt to implement uniforms." DH and I have joked about whether or not I can sue him since he is part of the school board.

Local paper? Editorials are very effective...d

I'm gonna hate myself for saying this

but this is something the ACLU would pick up in a heartbeat...." A non vote EQUALS a yes vote"

Send this hootennanny a copy of the Constitution, some school and BOE information and a copy of RRO, so she can see what a NON VOTE equals.

I'd not really for or against (although it would depend on what uniform costs are to me)

But this is blatant and outright stupidity let alone unDemocratic

I'm actually in favor of uniforms/strict dress codes, but I'm not in favor of unilateral decision-making that doesn't allow for proper discussion and process.

Dress code/uniforms became a very controversial suggestion in our district last year. Ultimately, those 'against' won. A school could never have implemented this without a formal process. It's a district issue.

One of the proposal did consider allowing it to be a campus by campus decsion. But one of the big problems there was that if one high school had it and one didn't, the district would have to allow transfers-by-request for anyone who opposed their own campus' policy. And I think (but am not certain) that the district would have to provide transportation for those students. I believe this was seen as a legal obligation, but I'm not sure if it came out of state or federal law. It was definitely a powerful factor in our district not implementing a hybrid decision.

I'm with the others - your school board needs to deal with this issue.

Thanks for the replys.

Some school board members are aware this is going on because my husband is on the board. He also questions her ability to make this kind of policy without board approval and will be having a conversation with the board president about this later tonight. He has already requested that it be put on the agenda for their next meeting. The problem is that so far, the board has been very lax about letting principals implement their own dress codes as long as those are not against the district dress code, but that has only been done at schools with behavior problems. That isn't the case at my school.

I have drafted a letter requesting that this issue be given more thought and that a committee be formed in order to fully examine the issue. I would like to email this to every parent I know and ask them to vote no on Tuesday. Perhaps I should hold off, but there feels like a sense of urgency--the next school board meeting is this coming Monday and the uniform "vote" is Tuesday!

yes, i read your whole post, and I would be seething and sick about it if I were you as well. What that Principal did was sneaky and underhanded, and I am SURE her supervisors would agree.. on every step of her unethical process. The kicker was " everyone who doesn't vote is an automatic yes"... that's just unbelievable.

I, too would read your DISTRICT policy on dress code, and then ask your school board what power she has over implementing this kind of change. I would guess she is walking on shaky ground, NOT because of her desire to make her students look presentable ( who wouldn't?).. but the ways in which she has approached the whole thing.

You have my support. Keep us posted!