JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Officials for Duval County Public Schools addressed concerns about the district’s uniform policy during a press conference held at district headquarters on Wednesday, which came after several parents voiced complaints regarding how uniform violations at Westside High School were being handled.
At the event, Timothy Simmons, the regional superintendent of high schools and alternative schools, spoke for about 10 minutes, discussing how a school’s uniform policy is created, steps schools can take when a student’s attire doesn’t align with its policies, and addressing claims that certain staff members had been examining tags on students’ clothes to ensure they were compliant.
On the latter point, Simmons stated that no district or school policy instructs staff members to check the tags of a student’s clothes to ensure it was purchased from the appropriate vendor.
“In regard to the actual vendor that is used to purchase a uniform, each school has a vendor that they usually work with, but they’re also, most importantly, they’re looking at the colors for the safety aspect of what the student is wearing,” Simmons said.
However, during the conference, Simmons also stated that the district is not requiring students to wear their institution’s logo on their school shirts, which directly contrasts with a message sent out by Westside High School Principal Vincent Foster, causing even more confusion about where schools and the school district stand on their policy and how it will be enforced moving forward.
At Wednesday’s conference, Simmons said, “What we find is that students like to wear the logo or the crest of the school, so we will assist [students] so they can have that, but we are not requiring them to have that.”
Later in the conference, he directly stated, “[Students] are not required to have the logo.”
In Principal Foster’s message, which was posted Tuesday evening, he lays out the uniform requirements. Shirts, he says, must be grey, black, or red polo shirts with the school logo.
“Button-up shirts and jackets with the school logo are also available for purchase,” the message reads.
It is unclear if either official misspoke, but a flyer posted by Westside High School shows what qualifies as appropriate attire for students, including shirts and jackets with school logos on them.
Additionally, the flyer does not explicitly state that any articles of clothing must include a logo.
The regional superintendent went on to say that he encourages schools to offer a grace period for students to comply with uniform requirements. He also said that if an item of clothing isn’t affordable, parents can ask the school for assistance, and it will be provided.
“If any family has any type of financial hardship, we have community partners as well as school closets to assist families with that,” Simmons said. “We simply ask [families] to tell us...If they ask, we will help them in any way possible.”
Simmons also addressed claims that a large number of students were sent to the school’s auditorium as a result of their uniform infractions.
“We did house students into the auditorium to make parent contact and provide redirection for the uniform,” he said. He also confirmed that about 100 students were brought in for uniform violations.
But Simmons said that after speaking with Principal Foster, he learned that some of those students in the auditorium may have been eating their lunch, which is something Westside High allows if students don’t want to eat in the cafeteria.
“Some of the pictures you might have received might have shown an abundance of students in the area, but that could have been the same time when students were eating lunch, as well as being redirected for their uniforms,” he said.
For more information on the district’s uniform policy or to apply for financial assistance, parents are encouraged to contact their child’s school or visit the district’s website.
The full press conference can be found below.
