School uniforms revisited by PTA

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Jan. 30, 2004
Connie Shannon, president of the Meridian PTA Council, said Thursday that a second round of surveys are under way to determine if parents favor required school uniforms for students.
Shannon said Robert Markham, the district's deputy superintendent, is in charge of the new survey which asks parents if they would like to see students in kindergarten through the seventh grade be required to wear uniforms.
Shannon's first attempt to consider the uniform issue was in April, when she mailed out 7,000 questionnaires. Of those, she said 1,011 were returned and 718 of those responses were in favor of school uniforms, 371 against them and 12 with no opinion.
School district officials hope that 75 percent of the take-home questionnaires will be returned this time and that 75 percent of those will favor the uniforms. If that happens, then the school uniform issue will be brought before the Meridian Public School Board.
In other business, George Thomas, dean of the school of education at Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus, was the guest speaker at Thursday's meeting.
Thomas touted the benefits of going to college in Meridian.
Thomas also talked about the importance of education in Meridian and some of the challenges teachers face in today's classrooms. He said that the push for highly qualified teachers may force some of the older teachers out of the classroom.
The PTA's next meeting will be held Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m. The location will be determined at a later date.