DeLand, FL – Public school students in Volusia County are a step closer towards having to wear uniforms by next school year.
Without taking a direct vote on the matter, the Volusia County School Board made no further changes to the proposed uniform policy during Tuesday night’s meeting in DeLand.
The policy that will now be advertised and put up for a vote during the VCSB’s March 15th meeting is the same one that the board amended during a meeting last month to include blue jeans by a 4-1 vote.
Despite a request from VCS Superintendent Tom Russell to review the policy, a motion by District 4’s Linda Costello to remove blue jeans fell 3-2 after it was seconded by District 1’s Dr. John Hill. Chairwoman Ida Wright and Vice-Chair Melody Johnson voted “no” along with District 3’s Linda Cuthbert.
Cuthbert – a staunch opponent of the uniform policy – made a motion afterward to table the policy until more workshops could be done, but it failed for lack of a second.
Cuthbert argued that too many people – especially parents – were against uniforms and that the board needed to get more input before setting policy, even though this particular topic has been debated at board meetings for over 6 months.
Uniforms have been a hot-button topic for the board ever since most of its current members were voted into office in 2014. It’s also been an issue for many parents, some of whom have organized online protests and have shown up in force at VCSB meetings to voice their concerns in person.
Many of those same people were in attendance again Tuesday night taking the VCSB to task over the uniforms, saying the board was wasting too much time on this topic and not focusing on bigger issues like improving the district’s overall “C” grade from the state and graduation rates.
Some urged the board to focus more on keeping current teachers happy and do more to attract new ones, especially since the district is having trouble filling a lot of teacher openings with qualified people.
Contract talks with the Volusia Teachers Organization have become particularly contentious in recent months – especially over pay and benefits – and that frustration boiled over on both sides earlier this month after VCS declared impasse in its negotiations with the union.
Some of the commenters at Tuesday’s meeting included teachers who took big exception to Hill telling a reporter that members of VTO were “hateful” after the district’s negotiation team walked out of the last negotiation session at DeLand High School.
Board members have promised to limit the amount of “disruptive” comments made by the public during meetings and kick people out of meetings if need be, especially if they come outside of the public comment time or while the board is conducting business.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.