South Country employs car salesman tactics

In yet another attempt to force-feed parents their misguided student uniform initiative, the South Country School District sent a letter this summer to families stating that in order to opt-out of the policy, a form needs to be hand-delivered to school and signed by the principal.

It seems as if the district may be trying to employ the kind of tactics that we're used to seeing from after-market car salesman. Just when you make up your mind not to buy that undercoating you don't need, they sit you down and make a final hardball sales pitch.

Now really . . . does the school board and superintendent think that families are incapable of making an intelligent decision on their own about student uniforms? Do they really believe that those who choose to opt-out need to be counseled by a principal about their decision?

With limited summer hours at elementary schools, and people working multiple jobs to make ends meet, requiring an in-person delivery is clearly a transparent attempt to place a hurdle in the path of those who choose to opt-out.

I urge fellow parents in South Country to join with me in not only opting-out of this policy, but by doing something bold by sending the form to school by mail. In fact, for those of you really feeling wild and brazen, you can fax it to Central Office at (631) 286-6394, or better yet, scan in a completed version and email it to the superintendent at sagruso@southcountry.org.

Think about it . . . what are our school administrators really going to do? Would they actually reject an opt-out request if it's not hand-delivered? Of course they won't.

In addition, parents should note that denim jeans are fully allowable in the district’s dress code. Confusion has existed because district propaganda has noted that jeans are not part of the Uniform Code of Dress. That’s true, they aren’t part of the uniform. But they fully comply with the regular dress code.

So that's where they got the idea!

Wondering where the board of education got the navy and khaki color combo from? One needs to look no further from the nearest Wal-Mart. Now, this is not a criticism of the hard-working people at Wal-Mart. Retail is tough work. But is this what we want our children to aspire to?

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.