School Board to Vote on Uniforms Tonight

The school board is set to vote tonight on whether to make school uniforms mandatory, beginning with the 1997 school year.

The policy would affect students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, with high school students to be considered for the 1998 school year.

Though officials of the Santa Ana Unified School District are recommending that students wear blue pants or skirts and white tops, each school would be free to choose its own colors, according to the guidelines.

Blue and white is being recommended across the district, however, so that students could keep the same uniforms when they change schools, officials said.

Uniforms would help cut down on gang activity and promote safer campuses, according to a staff report.

Earlier this year, about 300 parents and students packed the school board chambers and an adjacent patio for a public hearing on the issue. Dozens of speakers addressed the board, slightly more than half of whom opposed uniforms.

A parent survey, however, showed that about 75% of respondents supported uniforms.

The school board meets at 7 tonight at 1601 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana. Information: (714) 558-5555.