Below is a letter to the bcct regarding a parents experience with the dress code in Bristol Twp. This sounds very familiar to what happened here back in the 2007-2008 school year. It was called a policy but was never enforced. There was a handful of students that wore uniforms, but by November, not 1 child was wearing the uniforms. The issue has come up in board meetings since, but when it was it was tabled for another time. We personally feel that there are way too many other issues that need to be addressed before implementing a dress code policy in Morrisville. The board members spearheading the dress code campaign were Brenda Worob and Marlys Mihok. Marlys has this paranoia and pre-conceived notion that children wearing clothing with sports team logos are gang members. Ask her about this, We're sure she has the pictures to prove it. And Brenda Worob really offers no real value to the discussion, she is just going along with Marlys on this one. Remember Brenda votes with Hellmann& Co over 90% of the time. Not too many free and independent thinkers on this board, especially the ones up for re-election in November. Speaking of the Nov. 3 election. It will be interesting to see if this topic comes up again in the fall.
It's not a 'policy' if it's not enforced
Bucks County Courier Times
In the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year, Bristol Township School District officials made a big deal about implementing a uniform policy. Guess what? By December hardly any of the kids continued to wear the uniforms.
As a parent, I noticed not once did the school reach out to gather support from parents wanting to contribute to this policy after it was implemented. Slowly, most students stopped wearing the uniforms. My child consistently fought me on this issue. I called the principal of John Fitch Elementary, Karen Snedecker, who did return my call but we never connected.
In lieu of this, on Nov. 11, I wrote Mrs. Snedecker a letter requesting that the kids still wearing the uniforms be rewarded with extra paw prints (an internal good behavior incentive program for the kids) - maybe have the opportunity to conduct the morning announcement.
Principal Snedecker responded in writing that she couldn't comply with my request because it would affect those kids who wanted to wear uniforms but couldn't afford them. That day, I gave the choice of wearing the uniform to my child who chose to wear street clothes. Immediately upon receipt of Snedecker's response, I wrote to Superintendent Ellen Budman. She also returned my call, but we never connected and failed to write a response.
In my letter to her, I asked her to reward the kids with extra paw prints, a pencil, an honorable mention over the intercom. I asked why the PTO sold embroidered uniform shirts with the Fitch logo, of which I spent over $100 in clothes, if the school district isn't making any other effort to support the policy. That was quite deceiving.
In my opinion, $6-$8 per piece of clothing is certainly affordable when these kids have designer book bags and sneakers, carrying cell phones and iPods. This "uniform" policy was a big waste of time and a bigger waste of money - money wasted on uniforms for a policy that went to waste by December. They didn't even request the teachers wear uniforms to help support this!
I've now discovered that registrants for kindergarten were not advised that uniforms are even preferred! The entire handling of this uniform situation was sloppy from the start. It's embarrassing. I love John Fitch Elementary but why does our district have such a bad reputation?
On June 3, I reached out to Ellen Budman. She did return my call the same day and advised me, "Although the uniform policy is not mandatory, we do like our students to wear uniforms." I said, "Is that all you have to say regarding that issue?" She said "yes" and we ended the call.
All I am saying is this: Bristol Township needs to take a positive, constructive approach to reaching out to those parents willing to comply with the uniform 'suggestion.' I am sure many parents will comply. Although compliance may be slow at first, it will catch on.
Bristol Township has to make some sort of effort to implement this procedure. Once the uniforms catch on, we can have a closet of donated used and new clothes to eliminate some of the cost for those in need. Lastly, I support uniforms 100 percent, but only when the school makes an honest effort to make the change.
