School Dress Code

I have promised myself that, wherever possible, I will make heavy use of critical thought and evidenced-based reasoning to guide my policies while serving on the Board of Education. Doing so has caused me to rethink the matter of the dress code.

Having a well thought-out dress code puts everyone on a level playing field, decreases violence and even improve grades, right? Well, that's what I thought, too, until I studied the matter. Before I educated myself, I was a proponent of a mandatory uniform consisting of khakis and a golf shirt. I felt that our current dress code was a convoluted mish-mash of confusing rules that was the result of allowing us sometimes-irrational parents to design a dress code.

I was wrong.

I came across a study entitled "The Effects of Student Uniforms on Attendance, Behavior Problems, Substance Use, and Academic Achievement" by David L. Brunsma and Kerry A. Rockquemore of the University of Alabama and Notre Dame University.

Check it out at http://www.members.tripod.com/rockqu/uniform.htm

The abstract of this study states, "Recent discourse on public school reform has focused on mandatory uniform policies. Proponents of such reform measures emphasize the benefits of student uniforms on specific behavioral and academic outcomes. This research empirically tests the claims made by uniform advocates using 10th grade data from The National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988. Our findings indicate that student uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems or attendance. A negative effect of uniforms on student academic achievement was found. These findings are contrary to current discourse on student uniforms. We conclude that uniform policies may indirectly affect school environment and student outcomes by providing a visible and public symbol of commitment to school improvement and reform."

Sometimes we grown-ups are guilty of imposing rules upon our children that have no effect or, even worse, a negative effect. So, the school uniform issue will be addressed again this coming April 2009. I'll be referring to this study often during that time.

Winners and losers

My self-motivational thought of the day: We have done a disservice to our children by not keeping score in little league. We must never underestimate the value of losing.

So I was elected to the Board of Education

So I was elected. Now what?

I think I want my mommy, is what. I am about to embark on a four year journey of self discovery and leadership development. Do I have what it takes to do a good job? Can I do this job without alienating everyone I know? When proration hits our local school (and it will - soon), how do I know if the decisions I am forced to make are the right ones? Do I really have what it takes?

Honestly, yeah, I do have what it takes. This is going to be a tough job but I am going to do my damndest to make sure thet every decision I am asked to make is made on the basis of rational thought and evidence-based reasoning. I will depend heavily on the experience and intelligene of my constituants and ask them for their guidance wherever prudent.

I will never, ever lose sight of my sole reason for running for this position: To serve the children of the Florence City School system. I'm not here to serve the teachers nor the parents nor the administration. I'm here for the kids. Every single decision I make will be made with the goal of improving the education of our children.

I was always told that one can never fully know what to expect when running for office - especially a board of education spot. I have read books on the subject, asked advice from anyone that has a clue and have tried pretty hard to educate myself on exactly what it means to be a board member of a school system and I'm still not 100% certain of what my duties are or will be.

My first board meeting is November 18th, 2008.