On May 11th, 1999, a severe blow was struck to the freedom of parents in Polk County, FL. The school board, by a 4-3 vote put into effect one of the most restrictive school uniform policies in the country. This has far reaching and national implications.

To view a sample of personal accounts concerning the overzealous enforcement of this policy, visit Uniform Incidents on this page.  Many accounts seem incredible, but all are true and many are cited in the lawsuit.

154 Polk county families have filed a lawsuit against the Polk County School Board in an attempt to defend their rights.  Since the initial filing of the lawsuit, there have been various pleadings filed.  One is now in front of the federal judge awaiting his ruling.  The filing of an injunction is forthcoming.

So far only one scientific study has been published on uniforms, and it shows that they don't work as promised. A second study of the same data by Education Testing Services verified these results (that uniforms do not work).  A four year 'tracking study' was conducted by the Miami-Dade School District on the effectiveness of their four year uniform program.  The results are in line with the other scientific studies on uniforms.  To view a synthesis of the available studies, legal challenges, and enforcement incident accounts, read the research paper, School Uniforms:  The Raging Debate.

Feel free to drop by the P.A.C. / Uniform Forum message board and leave some comments. All input is welcome.

Visit Polk County Education News to keep up with the latest events. This page is maintained by the Parental Action Committee of Polk County, FL.

Please call and let your school board know how much you appreciated them taking your tax dollars out of the class-room and into the courtroom.  As of May 2000, only eight months after the lawsuit was filed in federal court and prior to any depositions, the district has expended $77,000. on their defense of this suit.  The original estimate given by the board's attorneys, should this go to a jury trial, was between $800,000 and $1 million dollars.  This amount did NOT include any necessary appeals.   A jury trial has been requested to settle this issue.

Thanks to everyone who did everything they could to convince the board to make the right decision.

Polk County School Uniforms Home Page

Old Introduction

The purpose of this site is to provide information for opponents of the Polk County School System's mandatory school uniform policy. The emphasis will be on countering the continuing attempts of the school board to deny parents their rights to opt their children out of the uniform policy. School board members and the superintendent are blaming the failure of the uniform policy on the opt out provision. As every school district in Florida has an opt out policy, this claim is false. The reason for the failure is that the school board and the school administrators attempted to force the policy on the public without sufficiently involving parents  Such a tactic was guaranteed to create resentment from those who had it forced upon them from above and was bound to fail in a free society. This is the reason for the failure of the uniform policy in Polk county, not the opt outs.

On May 11th, 1999, the Polk County School Board will hold a public hearing at Bartow Academy (the elementary school, not Bartow High where public hearings have been held in the past) at 6:00 PM. The purpose of the meeting will be to get input from the public and decide the fate of both the uniform policy and the opt out provision. Opponents must contact the school board, superintendent, and the media and let them know of their strong opposition to the uniform policy as a whole and dropping the opt out in particular. We also really need to get as many people as possible to demonstrate their opposition to removal of the opt out policy by directly addressing the school board at the public meeting. This is the best way to convince the board that there is significant opposition in the community to removal of the opt out policy.