Sunnyside school uniform proposal tabled until July

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. -- No school uniforms just yet.

Saying they don't have enough information, Sunnyside School Board members took no action Thursday on a proposal to require students to wear uniforms to school.

Before a standing-room-only meeting room, board members decided to wait until July's meeting to try again.

The issue has been lingering in Sunnyside for two years, supported by a small but fervent group of parents.

However, a recent survey had poor response, Darena
Ah Quin told the board.

"We're really disappointed in the numbers," she said.

Ah Quin is a member of a parent advisory group. She is running for school board in the November election.

Only 1,400 parents, about 23 percent in the district, even filled out the surveys distributed during spring conferences asking them if schools should have uniforms.

Still, of the parents who did vote, 78 percent said they favored uniforms.

"It's very important for the parents and I don't think the survey showed the amount of parents that are involved," parent Luz Balderas told the board.

She said uniforms won't solve all problems, but they will help.

"This would help us with our children very much," Balderas said.

Meanwhile, research about how much the uniforms help was inconclusive, Ah Quin said.

Ah Quin and a group studying the issue have visited other schools across the state that use uniforms, including the Wahluke School District in Mattawa. The policy there was too new to shed any light, and only some experts have said they have made a difference.

However, Ah Quin supports the idea. She said parents such as Balderas have persuaded her with their conviction, believing it would improve modesty, eliminate fashion cliques and dampen gang influence.

"That's what changed my mind, personally," she said.

However, board members Stephen Carpenter, Rocky Simmons and Joanne Kilian decided to wait a little longer before deciding, asking Superintendent Rick Cole to bring back more data.

Members Miguel Puente and Lorenzo Garza were absent.

Board members agreed they need to make a decision soon.

"This issue has been out there long enough," Carpenter said. "There needs to be some resolution."

Few, if any, schools in the Yakima Valley require uniforms, but the topic surfaces among parents and school leaders quite frequently.

Mabton High School has been discussing uniforms, also based on survey results from conferences.

At Mabton High School, 89 percent of parents supported school uniforms.

Students were lukewarm at best. Only 36 percent favored the uniforms.

However, a couple students supported the idea so strongly that they purchased a few uniforms and often wore them to school toward the end of the year, said Principal Jay Tyus.

Tyus doesn't believe uniforms are necessary at the high school because they won't solve problems.

"If you have gang members in your school, you still will," he said.

The main benefit he sees is reducing the fashion influence, he said.

"What (students) wear doesn't determine who they are," he said.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.