Waiakea teachers
may don uniforms too

Teachers may lead the way
to school uniforms for students
by example

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Students won't be the only ones headed back to school in uniforms this fall.

Waiakea High School on the Big Island has adopted a voluntary uniform policy for its faculty and staff.

Teachers in uniform hopefully will make Waiakea students more receptive to adopting some type of voluntary uniform policy in the future, said Principal Dan Sakai. "We feel we've already established a dress standard, but want to emphasize it a bit more."

Aloha shirts, polo shirts, blouses and muumuu in variations of blue and white -- the school's colors -- and with the school's Warrior logo could be the order of the day, Sakai said.

Although the uniforms are optional, Sakai hopes for 100 percent involvement.

This fall, Kailua Intermediate students will be returning to school in uniforms while Moanalua Intermediate will be implementing an optional uniform policy for students. And Pearl City High and Waipahu Intermediate will be watching closely to ensure their students are conforming to a more stringent dress policy.

The school/community-based management council had discussed uniforms at Waiakea for students in the past, but parent Willis Savage broached the subject again after researching what other school districts on the mainland were doing. Results of his research indicated that uniforms take the emphasis from what students are wearing to better focus on school activities, he said.

Side benefits include reduced incidents of sexual harassment, violence and an increase in school attendance, pride and SAT scores.

"My feeling is that if something works, then why not for Hawaii as well?" said Savage, father of two students who will be attending Waiakea in the fall. His wife, a special education teacher at Waiakea, was in favor of staff uniforms.

Students, however, have given mixed reviews. "Without more information about what the uniforms would be, everyone tends to fear the unknown," Savage said.

"I hope they will see wearing a uniform is not a shameful thing to do and that they don't need to wear styles of the day to be able to express who they are."

Results reached by school districts on the mainland that have adopted uniform standards are compelling, said Mark Kloetzel, a chemistry teacher at Waiakea.

In the Long Beach City, Calif., school district with 56,000 students, math and verbal scores went up, sexual assaults went down 74 percent and fights dropped 50 percent after a uniform policy was implemented.

School officials could immediately identify intruders and uniformity did away with the division between the "haves" and "have nots," said Kloetzel, who welcomed the idea of wearing staff shirts.

"If I can buy two or three school shirts for $50 rather than one Tori Richard for 60 bucks, from a purely financial standpoint, I think it's terrific," he said.

"Once parents see the facts and figures and realize how much money to be saved, it's encouraging."

Parents like Sandy Kasman continue to struggle with issues of freedom of choice vs. the benefits of uniforms.

"But what we've seen from a lot of data compiled is that uniforms really can make a difference and sometimes relieve problems."