Board votes to adopt Metro school uniforms

Policy will begin with next school year.

By JAIME SARRIO - The Tennessean

Metro school officials won't face much more opposition to a new school uniform policy, if the history of Memphis city schools is any indicator.

The Metro school board voted Tuesday night to adopt a "standard school attire" policy, beginning with the next school year, requiring the district's 74,000 students to wear collared shirts and khaki, navy or black pants, skirts, shorts or jumpers. Several people spoke against the proposal.

Memphis faced similar opposition before launching a school-uniform policy in 2002, said Wanda Halbert, a school board commissioner there who advocated uniforms. After uniforms were approved, the naysayers quieted down.

"A lot of the people who didn't like it, they were OK with it once we instituted the policy," Halbert said. "The children looked good, and the focus wasn't on what they were wearing. A lot of students started liking it after a while. They thought they looked good in their uniforms."

Before she voted for the policy, Halbert got a lot of calls opposing uniforms, including some from her own children.

More than 30 people spoke at Tuesday's meeting, and about half favored uniforms.

The board voted 7-2 to approve the measure.