Lowndes School Board Flinches on Uniforms

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — A small group of vocal parents get their way in Lowndes County.

A month after voting to go to school uniforms at all grade levels, the county school board backed down Friday, giving schools the right to opt out of uniforms if they want to.

The change came under pressure from Caledonia parents.

The county’s principals and several parent committees spent months studying the issue as a way to improve school safety and save parents time and money. But some parents have fought the change since it first came up.

West Lowndes already has uniforms in grades K-8 and was about to add the high school. Teachers there say it’s been successful, caused few problems and drawn widespread parent support.

But administrators now say they Caledonia and New Hope likely will opt out of the uniforms and stick with standards dress codes.

The board also refused to move the county’s alternative school to space not being used at West Lowndes Middle. The county now partners with Columbus on an alternative school but it costs the county about $265,000.

Moving the school to West Lowndes Middle would allow the county to save that money by using existing staff. But a school board coalition between West Lowndes and Caledonia representatives blocked that move while voting for the uniform opt out.

Categories: Local News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *