Once a staple of parochial schools, school uniforms are going public like never before.

        This fall a growing number of public schools across the Tristate are requiring students to wear uniforms or adopting standard dress code policies. The hope is that pulling up those baggy pants and covering bare midriffs will foster a climate of respect and student achievement.

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        Even high schools — traditionally the last frontier for uniforms — are joining the roster.

        St. Bernard-Elmwood Place City Schools is making the biggest fashion statement of all. The district of 1,200 students will make history Sept. 3 when it becomes the first district in the Tristate — and one of a few in the nation — to require a standard dress policy for all K-12 students.

        “We're hoping our kids will have mutual respect and, in the long run, that it will give us a better environment for achievement and excellence,” said St. Bernard-Elmwood Place Junior-Senior High Principal Don Hartley.

        “I think it's a good change. I think society is ready for the change.”

        Other districts are adding or expanding uniform or standard dress policies this year. Consider:

        All 200 freshmen at Withrow University High School in Hyde Park will wear uniforms when it opens Monday. So will the teachers and principal at the school, one of Cincinnati Public's restructured high schools.

        Holmes High School and Latonia Elementary in Covington added policies this year.

        North College Hill's three elementaries will require uniforms this year.

        Mount Healthy expanded its policy to require uniforms at three elementaries.

Students Lisa Cole (left) and Anna Butler wait for school to open. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        Uniforms in public schools date to 1994, when the Long Beach Unified School District became the country's first large urban district to adopt a mandatory uniform policy at some of its schools. But the California district does not require uniforms for all its students.

        While districtwide policies are rare, the idea may be catching on.

        For example, districts in Alabama are starting to follow the lead of the Mobile County School System, the largest in the state with 65,000 students. The district adopted the first mandatory K-12 uniform policy in the state in 1997.

        Assistant Superintendent Rhonda Waltman was astonished by how non-controversial it was. “I expected lines of people saying, "Oh no, we're not doing it.' It didn't happen.”

        In the 1996-97 school year (the most recent year available), 3 percent of the nation's public schools required students to wear uniforms, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

        The National Association of Elementary School Principals says the number of public schools adopting uniforms and strict dress codes is growing. In 2000, the association surveyed elementary and middle school principals nationwide about the topic. Ten percent of the 755 principals who responded said their school had adopted uniform policies and another 11 percent were considering it.

        While schools are warned that uniforms are not a panacea to cure problems, many educators hope they will contribute to improved behavior and academic achievement. Studies differ about whether that actually happens, but some Tristate educators cite improved grades, lower suspension and expulsion rates and a better school atmosphere.

        Sharon Johnson, principal of Withrow University High School, initiated uniforms this year because she had success with them at her former school, Parham Elementary.

Freshman Cody Butler was a dress-code holdout Wednesday. He must follow the code starting Sept. 3. | ZOOM |

        “They help establish the culture and climate of your school. It helps alleviate discipline problems, such as children harassing other children about designer outfits. It allows more time for instruction rather than putting out fires.”

        She said uniforms contributed to improved academic achievement at Parham.

        “Research might say not, but I would say so. My numbers speak to it. Uniforms create a climate that is conducive to learning.”

        Ted Beiersdorfer, a Mount Healthy North Middle School social studies teacher who helped spearhead his school's uniform policy, agreed. Anecdotally, he knows suspensions and expulsions were down last year, the first year of the policy.

        Mr. Beiersdorfer noticed a change in attitudes on the handful of days students were allowed out of uniform. “There was more name-calling, cat-calling and little discipline stuff.”

        The uniform policy improved the school's environment, he said. “It leveled the playing field. In middle school, they're so worried about what everyone thinks about each other.”

"It's like going to work'

        Uniforms required in the Tristate vary. Some schools have the traditional so-called “Catholic” plaid, but most have a standard dress policy where students must wear certain solid-colored shirts with collars and solid pants and skirts.

        At St. Bernard-Elmwood Place, pants and skirts must be black, tan or navy and made of cotton, wool or cotton blend fabric. They must be worn at waist level and have a hemmed bottom. Shirts must be solid-colored with collars. All sweat shirts, sweater vests and sweaters must be solid-colored.

        On Wednesday, the first day of school at St. Bernard-Elmwood Place Junior-Senior High School, about half of the 500 students enrolled wore uniforms. Others are holding out until the Sept. 3 deadline to comply.

        Freshman Cody Howard, 14, wore a Platinum Fubu T-shirt and baggy jeans on Wednesday.

        “I didn't like (the policy) when I first heard about it, but the more I thought about it, it didn't matter,” Cody said. “It's like going to work. I can still be cool after school.”

        Denise Webster, a 17-year-old senior, favors the uniforms as well. “I don't have to get up extra early to figure out what I have to wear,” she said.

        Senior Jason Kalchek, 17, favored the policy when he first heard about it because he wouldn't have to think about what he was going to wear in the morning. “Now, it's kind of a hassle. It's my senior year, and I had to get a whole wardrobe for just one year. I probably won't wear any of it when I'm out of school.”

        Jason bought six pairs of pants and six polo shirts at a cost of $200.

        Superintendent Carroll Roberts knows everyone is not happy with the policy, but said most parents are supportive.

        Ann Revis of St. Bernard is one of those supporters. Her grandchildren live with her and attend school in the district.

        “Some of the clothes are so way-out anymore. I think it takes kids' attention from what they're trying to accomplish,” she said. “There's peer pressure for more clothes.”

        The new uniform policy at Holmes High School in Covington ruined the whole back-to-school ritual for Liz Fossett, a 16-year-old junior. It was always exciting to go shopping for back-to-school clothes.

        “It's a public school, and if you want your child to wear uniforms, you should enroll them in a private school,” Liz said.

        Her mom, Kim, prefers the uniforms. “Everyone looks nice,” she told her daughter. “You all look dressier. Everybody looks put together.”

        Opponents of uniform policies say uniforms infringe on students' rights to express themselves. It's not uncommon for lawsuits to be filed against school districts with uniform policies.

        One parent sued Fort Thomas Independent Schools last year over a standard dress policy at Highlands Middle School.

        Fear of lawsuits may be the reason more districts don't jump on the uniform bandwagon.

        Kathy Venturella was PTA president when she helped spearhead the uniform push at Vail Middle School in Middletown about three years ago. The parent group had a standard response for those who thought uniforms infringed on a student's individuality.

        “There are a number of ways students can express their individuality,” she said. “They could excel academically. They could be a good reader, join clubs or engage in the sporting program.”

        Parent support was overwhelming at Vail — more than 80 percent favored the policy.

        “I believe parents are supportive of a policy like this because they are tired of fighting their kids over clothing issues,” Mrs. Venturella said. “You can spend the majority of the morning fighting with your student to just comply with the school dress code. I also believe parents support this because it's more economical.”

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