TIM PRATT
STARKVILLE — As Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey stood at the microphone Thursday night in the Greensboro Center auditorium, Starkville High School students Robert Ingram, Allison Price and Jennifer Hunt walked down the side aisle, turned and faced the crowd in front of them and held up large, homemade signs.
One of the signs simply read “No Uniforms;” another said “To protect, you must understand, and you understand nothing;” yet another featured a drawing of a swastika and other language in opposition to the school district’s proposal to require all students to where uniforms beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
Ingram, Price and Hunt were just three of the more than 200 people who piled into the Greensboro Center Thursday night to offer opinions on the proposed uniform policy. A majority of those in attendance were opposed to the policy, which would require students to wear khakis, collared shirts and other dress apparel instead of the students’ typical wardrobe.
Many in opposition cited the loss of personal freedom and creativity, while others were opposed because they would have to buy new clothes for their children in tight financial times. Those opposed to uniform policy also cited a 2009 survey, in which only 15.9 percent of the 744 Starkville School District students who responded were in favor of uniforms, along with only 44.3 percent of the 517 parents who took part, in favor.
Starkville attorney Rob Roberson, who has three children in Starkville schools was opposed to the uniform policy and the way the school board has handled the issue.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
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