Pants on the ground or not, Peoria high schoolers may be in store for some belt-tightening next year.
Midway into the first year all District 150 primary and middle schools adopted a dress uniform code, school officials now are considering whether to extend the same policy into higher grades, or just cinch up the current dress code.
“That’s top on our list to talk about,” says School Board member Martha Ross, who heads the district’s parent advisory committee. “It was our committee that (expanded) the uniform policy, and in our plans then we talked about adding it at the high schools, so I guess you could say we are following through.”
The committee meets next on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.
“I think (a uniform dress) is a good idea – to help young people come together as one, especially because of all the changes, like closing a high school,” Ross continued. “Although you want them to be individuals, you want everybody to feel connected and welcome.”
Board member Rachael Parker, also on the committee, said she’s not sure about requiring specific uniforms, but changes in the high schools are needed.
“The way kids are dressing now is inappropriate,” said Parker. “We have a good dress code. It may be just a matter of enforcing it.”
Some teachers and others have complained publicly about students’ attire.
One district employee, Scott Campbell, wrote to the Journal Star saying: “Everyday, boys come to school with their pants sagging to the point where it’s starting to be offensive. They need to cover their chests, bellies, shoulders, and wear pants that fit … the school dances are worse.”
Richwoods High School Principal Steve Ptacek said they’ve cracked down on the dress code, noting some students have been suspended. “When you tell a kid two and three times to pull their pants up, and they still don’t listen, obviously, warnings are not going to change the behavior,” Ptacek said.
Randy Simmons, principal at Peoria High School: “I see all the advantages with having a dress policy – you can spot in an instant a kid who doesn’t belong in your building – but I also don’t believe uniforms control behavior, I think it’s the culture of the building that does.”
Simmons said it also would be on top of a host of other changes at the district, including closing Woodruff High School, which will nearly double the number of students at Peoria High next fall.
Before this year, about a dozen primary and middle schools had dress uniforms. At the start of the 2009-10 school year, all but the high schools added dress uniforms.
Whether the recently expanded school dress uniforms had any effect depends on whom you talk to. Some principals at the elementary school level say they’ve seen little to no change.
Renee Andrews, principal at Whittier Primary School, said uniforms cut back student among “the haves and have nots.”
But Michael Barber, principal at Irving Primary School, and John Wetterauer, principal at Charter Oak Primary School, say they saw virtually no changes.
Barber, like Simmons, attributed behavior to the school’s culture. “It’s not really the clothes, it’s the teachers,” Barber said.
All three agreed some parents struggled to purchase uniforms, and in many cases the schools or others donated clothing to families.
Brett Elliott, assistant principal at Roosevelt Magnet School, said he has seen a change at the K-8 school.
“At first, I didn’t like it. I thought having a lot of the artsy kids here – that having an option allowed them more artistic freedom,” Elliott said. “But I have noticed it’s a little more calm this year. There’s been less office referrals. If you look at peer pressure, it balances out the haves and have nots. But there’s also a different group of students, different teachers. It’s hard to say.”
Dave Haney can be reached at 686-3181 or [email protected].
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