School uniforms are a ruse

Strip away the veneer of school uniforms and the South Country School District is still a district with lagging test scores, a low graduation rate, and a dysfunctional board of education that plays out its civil war on the pages of this newspaper.

Putting children in uniforms is not going to fix any of that.

Any why is it that the board of education is proposing uniforms for elementary and not secondary students? Walk through our schools and you’ll see that it’s not the little first- and secondgraders who are sporting their navels, wearing micro-miniskirts, or donning sweatshirts with hoods. (However, it’s those little elementary school cuties that make better “photo ops” for the district, especially when in uniform.)

A recent Long Island Advance story also noted that parents can opt-out of this policy if they “strenuously object to having their children wear a uniform.” How do they propose to measure how “strenuous” a parent objects? Will parents have to speak loudly, object frequently, or use highly persuasive language to show that they not only “object,” but that they “strenuously object?”

What if a parent simply signs a statement that they object? Will that suffice?

And finally, does the board really think that parents who currently allow their children to attend school dressed inappropriately will suddenly see the light and embrace the concept of school uniforms?

Of course not.

The reality is that this whole school uniforms dialogue is just a ruse to distract the public from the real issues. The district would better serve our children by “strenuously” enforcing its dress code and focusing on improving academic performance.