Almost half of Prince George’s County 24 high schools will mandate that students wear uniforms as of Monday. This academic year,
an additional 7 schools will join the four that required uniforms last year.
A spokeswoman for the Prince George’s County Public Schools said the district has a policy in place to guide schools that decide to switch to uniforms but couldn’t say what’s driving the change.
“I think it’s just one of those trends that catches on,” Lynn McCawley said.
All but 34 of the district’s 138 elementary schools have mandatory or voluntary uniform policies and more than half of the 32 middle schools have similar rules in place. McCawley said uniforms help take social pressure off of students.
“It’s a great equalizer,” McCawley said. “It’s not like you have this obvious class system within the school.”
Uniforms also help school administration with security issues, McCawley said.
“They will be able to visibly see whether the child belongs in the school or not,” McCawley said.
At Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, about 860 incoming freshmen will be the first to wear uniforms at a school that has had a dress code for several years. A biology teacher at the school said some students pushed the boundaries of what the dress code allowed “just by wearing a slightly different shade of blue, closer to green” and teachers had to police students’ outfits.
“You feel like you’re being petty to have to worry about things like that,” said John Bois. “But if it gets extended too far out, then suddenly you don’t have a dress code.”
Daphne Coles of Hyattsville will send her 13-year-old daughter, Areana Coles, to Northwestern next week for the girl’s freshman year. Areana chose the uniform shirt and pants, Coles said, but passed on the shorts and what Areana called a “too-long” skirt.
“She feels the dress is not hip,” Coles said.
Hipness aside, Coles said she hoped the uniforms cut down on peer pressure and confusion between young girls and young men.
