West-side school will be second Hollister campus with clothing mandate
Responding to economic and safety concerns, Calaveras School and the Accelerated Achievement Academy in the fall will become the second campus in the Hollister School District with a uniform policy, joining R.O. Hardin, which implemented a dress code this school year.
“It started with parents needing an alternative for the cost of clothing,” said Christine White, principal of the Buena Vista Road schools on Hollister’s west side. “We have 85 to 90 percent of our students on free and reduced lunch, so we felt this could even the playing field a little bit. We want to get back to the basics and have a focus on learning.”
In a report to the school district board of trustees, White said the campus is “perfect for implementing this policy because many parents come from places in Mexico where uniforms are required. Parents have expressed an interest, not only for safety purposes, but also financial reasons.”
The issue of uniforms was a frequent topic at White’s monthly coffee club meetings with parents, she said. As the campus has expanded from kindergarten through fifth grade to a K-8 campus, there has been some issue with older students coming on campus wanting to start fights.
“You can’t always distinguish who our students are, so the uniform policy will help us identify students that don’t belong here so we can identify problems before they happen,” White said.
Public schools are allowed to establish a dress code policy, though they must also have an opt-out clause for
parents who disagree with the policy for religious, cultural or freedom of expression reasons.
“If you get enough parents that believe in the program, they send their students to school in a uniform and the rest will follow,” White said. “State law says you can’t mandate a dress code policy, but it works when enough parents are on board.”
The approved policy says that Calaveras and the Accelerated Achievement Academy’s parent clubs and school site councils will work to identify resources to help with the cost of uniforms for economically disadvantaged students and will establish a method for recycling or exchanging uniforms as students grow out of them.
The uniform policy says that students must wear a white or black polo shirt – either short or long sleeve – or a school-approved shirt. Pants, shorts, capris or skirts must be black – the school color – or khaki and sweatshirts must be black or white. Students may also wear black, brown or white beanies for outside use in cold weather.
Angie Manzo of the Calaveras Parents Club said she and other parents are “pretty excited about having the uniforms.”
“When the parents voted for them, they agreed that they would look cleaner and the school would be safer,” she said.
In addition to a uniform exchange program, the parent club has discussed offering vouchers for needy families that may have trouble affording uniforms for their children.
“It seems like everybody is on board and pretty excited about it,” said Manzo, who has daughters in sixth and eighth grade at the Accelerated Achievement Academy and a third-grade son at Calaveras.
“My daughter who will be a seventh-grader next year is excited because she won’t have to worry about what to wear or other kids saying ‘Why don’t you have these brand-name jeans?’”
Seven months after the implementation of a uniform policy at R.O. Hardin School on Line Street, Principal Aggie Obeso-Bradley said it has worked “really, really well” and she plans to continue the policy next school year.
While some of the older students, in fifth and sixth grade, “try to push it” and not follow the uniform policy, a majority of students in kindergarten through fourth grade wear uniforms daily, Obeso-Bradley said.
“The little ones will get so used to wearing it that it won’t be a question when they get to the older grades,” she said.
Nearly three-quarters of older students consistently wear uniforms and when they don’t, Obeso-Bradley calls their parents to remind them of the school policy. She said approximately 5 percent of the school’s 725 students have opted out of the uniform policy.
“Parents have been thrilled,” she said. “The majority of them are thankful that they don’t have to get up and argue with the children about what they’re going to wear today. The little ones are thrilled as well. They come up to me and show off their uniforms.”
