Marco Parents to Cast Votes on School Uniforms

A chat with Principal Carrie Bertini of Thursday night to explain next week’s referendum on school uniforms turned into a lively town hall-type meeting, with parents debating the pros and cons of such a change.

“I have seven children—five in uniforms—with one income. It’s doable,”  Nicole Soto said to the cheers of many in attendance.

Currently, no middle school within the requires uniforms, although four elementary schools do, including two that feed into Marco: and .

“The schools that typically wear uniforms are the lower-performing schools,” said parent Courtney Batterton, who has one child at Marco. “You say it’s for equality, which I doubt.”

Bertini said it is true that there have been no correlation found between wearing uniforms and improved test scores. Anecdotally, middle schools with uniforms do report better student behavior.

The idea of requiring students to wear uniforms has been bandied about for all of her 18 years at Marco, Bertini said. She and the Parent, Teacher, Student Association thought it was time to put the issue to a vote of the parents.

Bertini hosted the meeting, which drew more than 150 parents. To make the switch to mandatory uniforms, at least 75 percent of the parents from next year’s group of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students must cast votes, and at least 75 percent of the votes must be favorable.

“We’re going to let democracy speak to decide the uniform issue,” she said.

Ballots will go home with students—both at Marco and at all of the elementary schools that feed into Marco—on Tuesday, March 1, with students, Bertini said. In addition, ballots will be available at all of the schools’ offices and online at Marco’s website. 

Ballots will be collected Wednesday through Friday during school hours at Marco and its feeder schools and between 9 a.m. and noon Saturday, March 5, at Marco, Bertini said. Each ballot must be signed by the parent,  and only the parents can turn in the ballots. Only one vote per family is allowed, no matter how many children will attend Marco next year, she added.

By Tuesday, March 8, the school should have election results, which will also be posted on the website, Bertini said.

Karen Tilley, mom to two students at Marco next year, said she was at first leaning toward uniforms but is now against them. “I already felt the sense of family. You don’t need a uniform to do that.”

On the flip side, Carlos Solorzano, father of a current sixth-grader at Marco, said this was his daughter’s first year out of a uniform, and it’s been one struggle after another persuading her to wear appropriate clothes to school. And she’s a straight-A student, he said.

“Everyday it’s a hassle,” said Solorzano. Uniforms teach students “it’s the heart and the character that counts the most.”

The PTSA came up with the uniform, which would include blue or khaki bottoms, white, red or yellow tops with solid red or gray outerwear, Bertini said. Shirts would have to have collars and have at least a cap sleeve. No jeans would be allowed, but students could wear clothes with university names on them as well as uniforms from nationally recognized youth organizations, such as Boy Scouts.

Bertini did a search to see what uniforms would cost.

“Just about everybody sells uniforms. Believe it or not, Nordstrom sells uniforms. So does Walmart,” she said. She found prices ranging from two-for-$25 to $31 for pants; skirts from $12.50 to $13.98; and long-sleeved polo shirts from two-for-$16 to $13.98.

Bertini listed what she saw as the pros and cons of going to a mandatory-uniform policy. On the “pro” side, it could reduce peer pressure and stress, it could build a sense of community, and it would relieve the teachers from enforcing the very detailed dress code now in place.

On the “con” side, it could wrongly send the message that there’s a problem at Marco, it restricts “age-appropriate self-expression of individuality,” and it could drive families to other schools.

If the uniform measure passes, parents who do not wish their children to go to a school with mandatory uniforms will have the opportunity to apply for open enrollment at another middle school, Bertini said.

She added that it will be “on me” to make sure the community does not misinterpret the reasons behind the uniforms.