Nationwide, educators grappling with school violence are trying to bust up cliques and limit adolescent isolation. President Clinton has endorsed dress-code policies. The Philadelphia school board looked into the issue last month at the request of Mayor John Street. A study by the National Association of Elementary School Principals in 1998 found that 52 percent of principals requiring uniforms reported a boost in student performance. At John L. Bernstein Public School 137 in New York, students began wearing crisp, new blue and white uniforms in September.
Parents can write a note excusing their children from wearing uniforms.
Otherwise, Principal May Beyda said, the school would face multiple lawsuits. In Chicago, it's 80 percent. And in New York City, about half of the public elementary schools have a uniform policy. But no city as large as Philadelphia has a districtwide policy. James-Brown said schools would be pushed to look at clothes that are inexpensive and readily available.