Statewide, the average reduction in discipline problems for school systems that use uniforms is 40 percent, state Rep. Kathy Cox told a group of interested parents and teachers last week.

In a public forum focusing on school safety and preventing student violence, topics ranged from giving teachers more leeway in expelling disruptive students to putting Internet cameras in each classroom, but consensus among the group of about 35 who attended was that uniforms should be mandatory for all Fayette students, regardless of any other solutions offered.

And in light of a recent Supreme Court decision that holds teachers responsible if students sexually harass each other, Cox said teachers “would be crazy” not to support mandatory uniforms. “Victoria's Secret has not helped the situation in high school,” she said, calling student dress problems “a mushroom that's out of control.”

“Why do we need to poll the parents?” asked Richard Hobbs in response to news last week that Brooks Elementary School will start a voluntary uniform program. The school didn't make that decision until the school Parent Teacher Organization polled parents and 56 percent of those who responded were in favor.

Hobbs said the Board of Education should “be leaders” and enact a mandatory uniform policy without asking parents' permission.

But it's not that simple, said superintendent of schools Dr. John DeCotis. DeCotis, director of secondary education Wayne Robinson and Sandy Creek High School counselor Dan Lorton made up a panel of education experts.

The school board is seeking volunteers for a task force that will study uniforms as part of an overall school safety strategy, and that panel will need parent support to make its suggestions work, said DeCotis.

“We have to go beyond that [uniforms] too, and look at some other issues,” DeCotis said.

If uniforms are made mandatory, said Cox, “There's going to be a lawsuit about expession, personal freedom, things like that.”

The county will be in a better position to win that lawsuit if there is demonstrated community support for its policies, she added.

Cox, who represents the southern part of Fayette, handed out copies of a new state law that seeks to address the need for greater discipline in schools. “In some areas, the state is just doing what Fayette County has been doing all along,” she said, “but now it's state law.”

The bill, which goes into effect for the 2000-2001 school year, requires parental involvement when there are discipline problems.

School systems also are required to enact codes of dress and conduct, and “character education” programs designed to teach a list of 27 character traits such as honesty, fairness, kindness and respect for others, for the environment and for “the creator.”

Also part of the new law is a provision allowing teachers to remove disruptive students, and requiring that schools have “placement review” committees to decide where a student who is tossed from a classroom should be placed, or to put the student back into the classroom if the committee deems that the teacher acted wrongly.

Alternative schools also must be provided, and school systems must conduct studies and file reports on disciplinary problems, all of which will cost money, said the panelists.

“The more I learn about it, I think the state is trying to be proactive,” said DeCotis. “But it's got to be funded.”

Greg Powers, a school board member in attendance, said Fayette's schools already are wrestling with a $4 million budget shortfall. “This [the bill] is great — I'm not knocking it. But give us some funding for this,” he said.

Cox agreed and promised to take that concern directly to Gov. Roy Barnes. “Definitely it's `cart before the horse' in a lot of ways,” Cox said of the unfunded requirements.

Fayette County schools already are doing several things to try and prevent student violence, the school officials told the gathering.

“About three years ago we updated our code of conduct, and now we've established a committee to look at those [safety] issues,” said DeCotis.

The school system isn't just reacting to recent outbreaks of violence in Littleton, Colo. and Conyers, Ga., said Robinson. “Actually, we reacted last year to what happened in Pearl [Miss.], Jonesboro [Ark.] and Paducah [Ky.],” he said. “We have to continue to try to look in those areas.”

There is already a code of conduct and a dress code, said DeCotis, and local school officials participated in two workshops this year, one on drug abuse and one on violence, he added.

All the schools have truancy programs and crisis programs, and teachers are instructed on what to do if someone comes into the school who doesn't belong there.

The task force will gather input from parents, law enforcement groups and the community as a whole, said Robinson, in looking for still more ways schools can be made safe.

“Everybody wants to know what have you done, what are you doing and what are you going to do,” he added.

Even though the state funds school counselors only at the high school level, Fayette's board funds its own counselors in middle and elementary schools, said the officials. Fayete schools also have conflict resolution programs, resource officers and an anti-gang policy, said DeCotis.

Suggestions for further anti-violence measures include student photo identification badges so disruptive students can be easily identified, and Internet cameras in the classroom so parents can tune in and check on their children... and the teachers.

A woman who made that last suggestion said parents would be willing to pay for computer access to the classroom during the school day. “I will write you a check right now,” she said.

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page