Board Gives Initial OK to a School Uniform Policy

School board members gave preliminary approval to a school uniform policy for the Irvine Unified School District, but showed little enthusiasm for the idea.

Supt. Dennis M. Smith told trustees this week the policy is needed to respond to parents at Westpark and Westwood Basics Plus elementary schools who want uniforms.

“We’re not proposing, or proponents, of a school uniform policy, but two schools in our community have asked that they have the opportunity to discuss this issue,” Smith said. “We need a policy that would allow them to do that.”

The policy, expected to return to the board for final approval May 21, would require approval by three-quarters of the parents in an individual school. But the wearing of uniforms would not be mandatory.

“I don’t like uniforms,” school board member Hank Adler said. “It’s something that I would find bothersome.”

Adler cast the only vote against the policy, saying it should have been amended before the first reading was approved. He questioned whether the policy’s one vote per family was fair, and said individual schools should bear the cost of providing uniforms for students who could not afford them.

Smith said the policy can be amended to address Adler’s concerns when it returns to the board for final approval.

School board member Michael B. Regele called the idea of school uniforms in Irvine “amusing.”

“I find ironic and somewhat amusing that the generation of the late ‘60s who went out of its way to throw out any form of conformity is now the generation that wants to put their kids in uniform,” Regele said. “It’s just ironic to me.”