Uniforms or no uniforms?

That is the question Akron Public Schools is asking parents ahead of next school year.

For the last three school years, the district has suspended its usual uniform policy for grades K-8, opting to give parents and students leeway during the pandemic to not have to purchase and use school uniforms.

“We realized some parents had not had an opportunity to have funds available due to job loss,” Director of Business Affairs Deb Foulk told the school board’s instructional policy committee on Monday.

This week, the district sent out a survey to parents asking if the district should continue suspending that policy for one more year.

Foulk said the responses had been swift, with more than 1,000 in her inbox within 12 hours. About 60% of them are in favor of another year without uniforms.

Foulk said the administration is seeking a full rewrite of the policy, which was written in 2007, but that could take months to go through the board’s legal contracts and board policy committee. The administration is in the process of creating a parent handbook for the fall and can’t wait for a long-term policy to be rehashed.

“Obviously this is an important topic, but we just wanted to get relevant feedback from our community as we just started to put the book, the handbook together, knowing we would need to take this to legal policy in the right format,” Foulk said.

Board members said they appreciated the notification and the opportunity to review the dress code policies for all grade levels in the coming months.

“I don’t think policies such as this should be rushed into,” committee chairwoman and Board Vice President Carla Jackson said.

Board member Rene Molenaur pointed out that several parents had told her the survey was confusing.

The survey includes links to the two policies about the dress code: Policy 5511, Dress and Grooming, and 5511.01, School Uniforms for Grades Kindergarten to Eight. It asks one question: “Should the Akron Board of Education consider suspension of Policy 5511.01 –  SCHOOL UNIFORMS FOR GRADES KINDERGARTEN TO EIGHT for the 2024-2025 School Year?”

Foulk confirmed that voting yes means to continue suspension of the policy, thus not having uniforms next year. A “no” vote would bring back uniforms.

The survey was sent to Akron families by email. It was also given to administrators and a group of about 200 students in various grade levels, Foulk said.

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Public Schools sends out survey on school uniforms for next year