Anne Arundel public schools can require students to wear uniforms this fall if they gain sufficient parent support, according to a policy approved last week by the school board.
The new rules, suggested by Superintendent Eric J. Smith, require a school to survey all parents. The school can institute uniforms if 70 percent or more of the surveys are returned and 80 percent or more of the parents favor uniforms. At high schools, students would also be surveyed.
Smith said he has heard some Annapolis principals express interest in uniforms. Jose M. Torres, assistant superintendent for student support services, said Tuesday he had not yet heard from any schools planning to act on the new policy. Schools would have to reach a decision by mid-May to be able to put students in uniforms by late summer.
Public school uniforms caught on nationwide in the early 1990s as a way to minimize the influence of designer clothing and other distractions on campus. Anne Arundel experimented with voluntary uniforms in the last decade, but the practice didn't stick.
Two alternative public schools, J. Albert Adams Academy in Annapolis and Mary E. Moss Academy in Crownsville, began requiring uniforms in 2003. The principals there said they were pleased with the results.
As superintendent of a North Carolina school district in the late 1990s, Smith oversaw several schools that required uniforms.
