newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Would your children approve of a wardrobe consisting of capris and khaki pants? That's what Parsippany parents are about to decide when the school board holds three meetings in February at which principals of Central and Brooklawn middle schools and Intervale Elementary School will explain the merits of uniforms.

Ballots will then be sent home to parents of children who attend those three schools. Each school requires 85 percent of respondents to approve the idea for the plan to move forward. If approved, the policy would begin in September.

NJ.com reports Parsippany's pilot program would affect only the three schools and would be similar to those instituted in Lodi, Linden, Belleville, Plainfield and Newark. It would require students to wear khaki pants, capris or skirts with polo shirts that match school colors. The school's mascot would appear on the shirt.

Parsippanypatch.com reports principals at all three schools advocated the uniforms in a presentation to the board. After months of research, they found that student uniforms can instill a sense of belonging, reduce peer pressure and help the district's many new students assimilate.

Brooklawn Middle School Principal Eileen Hoehne said that since January alone, 12 new students have arrived at her school. Many are from foreign countries, especially Asia and South Asia, but several also migrated from other areas.

The American Civil Liberties Union has repeatedly voiced opposition, saying uniforms deprive students of their right to express themselves. But in 2009 an appeals court in New Jersey upheld the uniform policy of the Pleasantville school system, where a student had been disciplined for failing to observe it.

Nationally, statistics said approximately 18 percent of U.S. public-school principals reported that their schools required uniforms in 2007-08, a jump from 12 percent recorded in 1999-2000, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

According to mycentraljersey.com, New Jersey School Boards Association spokesman Mike Yaple estimated that about two dozen New Jersey public school districts, out of more than 600, had a uniform policy of some kind in place during the 2009-10 school year. State Education Department spokeswoman Beth Auerswald said the state doesn't keep track of how many districts have uniform policies — nor does it offer recommendations on the matter.