April 7, 2007 (Nashville, TN)—Parents and students opposed to the proposed uniform requirement for Metro public schools will gather Tuesday afternoon for a rally at the MNPS central administration building at 2601 Bransford Ave. The protest is planned for 4 p.m. in advance of the 5 p.m. school board meeting, during which the school board is expected to vote on the proposed policy.
“We urge school board members to vote no on this ill-conceived and poorly constructed policy,” said Ashley Crownover of Metro Parents Against Standard School Attire (MPASS). “The process leading to the policy was biased, did not follow Tennessee State Board of Education guidelines, and has resulted in a deeply flawed product that has the potential to expose the school system and the taxpayers to a myriad of costly legal headaches.”
The proposed standard school attire (SSA) policy is unnecessary given existing Metro schools policy, which already allows individual schools to require standard attire. A handful of Metro schools—such as Isaac Litton Middle School—already have a standard attire requirement in place. “Duplicating the existing policy and inflicting SSA on school communities that do not want it makes no sense,” said MPASS member Tricia Blumenthal, “especially in light of the fact that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that shows standard school attire does what it has been claimed to do—namely, improve student behavior or achievement. It just doesn’t do that, and school officials who insist that it will are ignoring the research. Is that what we want our school system teaching our kids? To ignore the research evidence?”
MPASS member Dean Masullo notes that the list of speakers granted time in front of the school board on Tuesday appears to have been “arranged” so that those favoring the policy come last. “It is notable that Director Garcia will be the last to speak, preceded by Ralph Thompson, Garcia's assistant superintendent in charge of student services,” says Masullo. “We already know that the ‘study’ process leading to this proposal has been tainted all along by a pro-SSA bias, so it comes as no surprise that pro-SSA administrators want to rig the ‘public’ part of the school board meeting in their favor as well.”
Should school board members vote for the policy despite the evidence and the legal risks, they can be certain it won’t end there, said Crownover. “This is our children’s education we’re talking about,” she said. “We hope that the school board will be guided by reason, but if not, we will continue working to ensure that Nashville’s education policy is based on facts, not educational fads.”
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I am a parent that is very agianst standard school attire,we can't let them take our children's freedom away.This will only bring about students rebelling,dropping out,skipping,and possibly eating disorders because I don't care how flat your stomach is tucking a shirt in makes you look fat.I see bulemia and anorexia coming around the corner more so due to this.All they need to do is make them not wear pants that show their underwear and no profanity on clothing,and common sense on dresses nothing too short,other than that then they can be free to be themselves and wear the clothes they want to wear instead of turning them into little robot look alikes.I don't care what anyone says clothes will not change grades or their personalities.Our children will be who they are no matter what and forcing this will only anger and upset them.
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