Public School Uniform Scam

Newark, Ohio City Schools recently adopted a school uniform in it's dress code. Considering the history of knowledge of the school board, my immediate thought was, "Who's getting rich off of this one?". I know, there is a huge debate over the good and bad aspects of a school uniform dress code. Many people think that there couldn't be much bad involved with trying to make students adhere to a standard of dress that is socially acceptable. A little digging and I found some questionable problems with the way Newark, Ohio, Johnstown Ohio, and other districts are implementing the dress code. It's a clever way to siphon money off of the school systems. 

Here is the way Newark, Ohio implemented it's program:

1. Announce that that uniform dress code is coming the following school year. 
2. Call meetings with parents and tell them what the dress code will be. 
3. Tell everyone that low income students will have their uniforms funded through donations. 
4. Contract with an exclusive uniform company that consists of 2 people working out of their house. 
5. Utilize school equipment and faculty to perform any of the functions of this 2 person company that they do not wish to perform. 
6. Provide vouchers funded with taxpayer money to low income students that are only good at the exclusive company. 
7. After all is done, revise the dress code so that it is so broad that any non-compliance can be taken care of however your faculty chooses. This relieves complaints from faculty if they claim that it's simply to much work to enforce the code. 

At this point, the school board has complied with the legal obligations under the Ohio revised code for school uniforms. The public has not been informed that the taxpayer is obligated to pay for "economically challenged" students and they have boosted the school's funds with donations. Those funds have been funneled to a company that has none of the costs that a reasonable person would expect from a uniform company like warehouses, customer service, a return policy, etc. This company is not even under contract to fulfill the order! 

Why would a school board funnel all of these funds to a rinky-dink business like this? Newark, Ohio has many retailers that would have provided all of the services one would expect from a uniform supplier. There was no notice or bid process for these companies. Newark, Ohio's school board didn't even bother to keep it local when the Mount Vernon, Ohio company Robert Renee. 

The end result of a school uniform dress code being implemented in this way is this:

• Taxpayers are forced to buy uniforms for other children whether they agree or not. 
• Local retailers lose profits as clothing purchases are made out of the local area. 
• Donations are diverted from other school programs as those making the donations are misinformed about the benefits of the new uniform policy, even though it's not being enforced. 
• School faculty and equipment are diverted from educational purposes to increase the profits of a private company. 
• The schools lose support from local honest vendors who pay taxes to support a system that diverts money away from them.
• There is no proven data to show that uniforms actually improve the learning atmosphere and lax enforcement removes any chance to prove this anyhow. 
• The school is forced to violate it's own policy by promoting and performing services for a private company for free. 
• Other proven programs have funds and time diverted from them because of the investment in an unproven school uniform program. 

I wrote a few articles about Newark, Ohio's school uniform policy as I researched the truth about their adoption of the policy. If your school district is adopting a uniform policy in the same way, ask the hard questions about the vendor. Ask about the plans for enforcement. Don't let your school district waste dollars on a uniform dress code if the intent is not to enforce the code in the first place.