Parents in favor of dress code for schools

LYNN – Parents interviewed last week said they support a proposal to implement a dress code in Lynn public schools.”I love it,” said Luccio Celestrino, who was in his front yard next door to the Tracy School raking leaves with his fifth-grade daughter Lucheyla. “Uniforms show respect for the school.”Lucheyla, however, did not think uniforms were the way for Lynn schools to go.”I don’t like that idea at all,” she said. “Everyone would be wearing the same thing and you wouldn’t see people’s personalities.”School Committee member Maria Carrasco has asked the school department to consider the idea of school uniforms.The state’s policy says that school officials are not allowed to interfere with a student’s personal dress and appearance unless personal dress “violates reasonable standards of health, safety and cleanliness.”The Committee has asked its lawyer, John Mihos, to look into what circumstances, if any, schools could require students to wear uniforms.But parents can’t see many circumstances in which uniforms would be a bad idea.Denise Tetrault went to a parochial school and wore a uniform, and thinks there are some definite advantages.”When I was in school no one was in competition with anyone,” she said. “It wasn’t designer this and designer that.”And Tetrault said uniforms would make the mornings, when kids are rushing to get ready, a lot easier.But Conner Roberts, Tetrault’s seventh-grade son, said it was a crazy idea.”No inspiration,” he said smiling.Both English High Principal Tom Strangie and Classical’s principal, Gene Constantino, said school uniforms would increase school safety since teachers and staff would be able to tell instantly if someone didn’t belong in a building or on school grounds.Maximo Aquino, who has a daughter at Tracy, sees it from the opposite angle.”It’s a very good idea,” said Aquino. “They would be able to spot kids who aren’t in school when they are supposed to be.”Evelyn and Ray Nunez have children at Breed Middle School and Tracy and think uniforms make sense.”It would save some money,” said Evelyn. “I love it.”Although Ray Nunez agreed saving some money on school clothes would be helpful, he also felt uniforms would benefit students.”It would bring equality to every kid,” he said.Some parents like Michele Brown see pros and cons to a school uniform.”My son wouldn’t like it, but I think it could be a good thing,” she said. “Look what kids are wearing now.”Brown went to St. Mary’s High after the school decided to scrap blue-plaid pleated skirts for girls.She said a uniform would help kids whose families can’t afford slews of new outfits every fall. Kids who don’t have a lot of new things to wear wouldn’t feel different, she said.But Brown also said that uniforms would keep students from wearing gang colors to school to flaunt their associations.”I know some kids have been intimidated by that,” she said.Luccio Celestrino, who is originally from La Romana in the Dominican Republic, said every student in every school in his hometown wears a uniform.Anna Mendoza, a Callahan School parent who is originally from El Salvador, said it’s the same way in the town where she was born.”Everybody looks good, everybody is ready to study,” said Celestrino. “Uniforms are a very good idea.”