In recent years, schools across the country have experienced violence, gang activity, and thefts of clothing and accessories. Many school boards, mindful of their responsibility to provide safe school environments for students, have implemented policies specifying dress codes or the wearing of uniforms after seeing a correlation between school uniforms and the decrease in school violence as well as increase in school behavior. Educators and the public are divided over the value of implementing school-uniform policies in the public schools and whether it should be mandated that all schools adopt a school uniform policy.8 .
Policy Problem: Determine how effective school uniforms would be in improving .
student behavior and reducing violence in Public Schools. Ascertain whether .
uniforms are the most effective way of addressing this issue.
Analyst's Problem: Determine whether school uniforms in deed curb .
school violence and hence improve student behavior. Draw conclusions from the .
results of the secondary research on how effective school uniforms are in reducing .
school violence. .
II. Background Information.
Legislative History: .
Federal Legislation: Before clothes, in the 60s, hair length was a major issue. However, in 1965, school dress first became a federal issue when the Supreme Court, in Tinker v. Des Moines, ruled that school districts could not outlaw the wearing of black armbands used to signify opposition to the Vietnam War. Essentially, the court upheld the position that school dress is a fundamental freedom guaranteed by the first amendment.8 These days, school dress is seen differently. In January 2001, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Canady v. Bossier Parish School Board indicated that school uniforms reduced disruptive behaviors. As a result, bills were introduced in the 106th (S.254) and 107th (S.1) sessions of Congress supporting uniforms, because they appear to reduce violence.