Pine Bluff School Board member Andrea Roaf-Little wants to remove the district’s policy mandating a dress code and is encouraging parents and students to take part in an online survey about the issue.
The district requires children to wear pants and shirts of a certain color depending on their grade level. The district prohibits students from wearing leggings, jeggings, tights, joggers, sweatpants and sagging pants. Students are permitted to wear hats of a plain solid color with no logo.
Roaf-Little disputes the notion that a dress code improves the culture in a district.
“I am hoping for the children to go back to pre-uniform days to express themselves individually,” Roaf-Little said. “They cannot wear anything. There should be limitations. We have difficulties with parents buying uniforms. As a parent, I thought the uniform would curb violence, fighting, and bullying. But that has not happened. It appears the uniform does not prevent disruptive conduct. Parents have to spend additional money. These clothes are not available halfway through the year and kids grow.”
Roaf-Little said she shared her views at a recent board retreat, prompting a survey on the subject on the district’s website.
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“The uniform is not a panacea,” she said. “I may buy my daughter a polo shirt from Walmart. We have not deterred everyone from looking the same. There are still disparities with the uniform policy. I would love to see the children to express themselves with those jeans. I think it is imperative that we allow expression within guidelines.”
On the subject of building morale, Roaf-Little suggested that is a separate from the discussion around clothing.
“I feel as though the expense on parents is not working and kids are not building morale,” she said. “The uniforms are not working in terms of children working a certain way.”
The survey asks the following questions with the following multiple choice answers:
“Do you prefer your child to wear uniforms or regular clothes to school?”
The two answers are “uniforms” or “no uniforms.”
“Would you still dress in uniforms even if there were NOT a dress code?” “Yes, No, or Sometimes.”
“Do you feel school uniforms impact school culture?”
Yes (has a positive impact)
Yes (has a negative impact)
No (has no impact)
“Thinking about safety, do you feel that students should be restricted to mesh or clear bags? Or should they be able to use what they would like?”
“Mesh or clear” or “use what they would like.”