DISTRICT TO REWORK UNIFORM POLICY.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

The Hart School District board is expected this week to reword its mandatory uniform policy at three junior highs following an ACLU complaint that parents were not given a clear choice.

During a meeting Wednesday night, members of the William S. Hart Union High School District governing board will be looking at revising a policy designed to eliminate inappropriate clothing.

``It's not really a change,'' said La Mesa Junior High School Principal Rochelle Neal, an avid supporter of the uniforms. ``We are articulating the `opt out' policy better.''

Current policy instituted in September 1994, when La Mesa Junior High School opened, forced students who did not wear uniforms to attend Arroyo Seco Junior High, the only junior high in the district with no uniform policy.

Carol Graham, mother of a Placerita Junior High School student, complained last year to the school district about the uniforms and said her son would not comply.

When Graham was told her son could not attend class at Placerita unless he was in uniform, the mother contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU officials charged that the district was violating the state Education Code, which states that school districts must notify the parents of the ``opt out'' policy for those who do not want their children to wear uniforms.

``The law says that the school district must notify parents that they have a right to `opt out' if they choose to,'' said Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the ACLU in Southern California. ``No reason has to be given.''

The Education Code requires school districts to include an exemption procedure without penalizing students who do not wear uniforms and to notify the parents of the exemption.

``Making students transfer to another school is in violation of the Education Code,'' Schroeder said. ``That would be considered as penalizing.''

Uniforms are mandatory at Placerita Junior, Sierra Vista and La Mesa junior highs.

Since learning of the policy violations, Schroeder wrote two letters to the district, one in September of 1998 and one this year.

``It looks like their policy is now in compliance with state policy,'' Schroeder said after reading an initial draft of the proposed change. ``It looks likes they have changed their procedure.''

Neal says that the policy has always been in effect. The proposed revision is simply a clarification, she said.

``Parents always had the option,'' she said. ``It's just more defined now.''

In her five years as principal of La Mesa Junior High School, Neal says that only one student has requested to opt out of the uniform policy for religious reasons.

Once the student turned 14, Neal said that his religion gave him the right to choose his own clothing, and the student opted to wear the school uniform.

``The whole purpose is to eliminate peer pressure,'' Neal said. ``I would wonder about a parent who in a school of 1,400 students would want their child not to wear a uniform.''

Students who do not wear uniforms must still abide by a dress code.

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PHOTO The Hart School District this week will reword its uniform policy, which includes students at Placerita Junior High School.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News