Lorain Schools: No uniforms for upcoming school year

LORAIN — Uniforms are not required at Lorain Schools this coming school year. The change comes less than a month before the district is set to start Aug. 20, but uniforms have been a longstanding contention in the district, with inconsistent implementation and last-minute changes under previous administrations. CEO Jeff Graham announced the change via email Wednesday, noting students will not be required to wear the traditional "polo and khakis" dress code of previous years. "Right now it's an odd time for our families, obviously unemployment's sky high — what we didn't want to do is add more stress to our families," Graham said Thursday. About half of the families who answered the district's Open with Care family survey indicated they experienced a loss of income due to the pandemic. He said he normally likes to give more notice, but has only been CEO a few weeks and wanted to make families aware of the change ahead of the 2020-21 school year. What that dress code could look like is yet to be seen. The district plans to provide more information at a later date. Lorain Schools has had a uniform policy for more than 10 years — after rolling adoptions by building throughout the district. Hiccups at the start of the process and changes made more recently have caused some controversy. Just ahead of the 2018-19 school year, then-CEO David Hardy Jr. removed black and gray from the approved color list — a move reversed less than a week later after pushback from families and students. For the 2019-20 school year, a dashboard was used to track student academics along with adherence to dress code, and was used as one of several reasons high school staff were threatened with reapplying for their jobs — another move reversed shortly thereafter. Students, families and staff at districtwide meetings often complained dress code enforcement differed from building to building and frequently questioned when the policy would change. It is unclear how Graham's change aligns with the Ohio Revised Code, which stipulates families must be given six months' notice when a school district implements a uniform policy. The law does not address a timeline for if a district abolishes a standing uniform requirement. Staff are still working through Open with Care family survey survey data, having received more than 1,000 online responses and reached out to more than 5,500 families via phone, according to a district news release. Working through that data is the latest step in the district's "Plan to get a plan" as it looks ahead to the 2020-21 school year set to start Aug. 20. That start date could change, Graham noted in a news release — something several districts around the county have done. Analyzing the family survey hopes to show gaps in coverage, like how to better serve families who couldn't take advantage of food service programs in the spring or summer, and tailor the coming plan to best fit those needs. "Every component of our plan we need to be able to trace back to feedback that we've received," he said. "So we're doing this, because of this, we're doing this because of this. Our plan needs to be as personalized as it can be to meet the needs of the families in Lorain and our staff in Lorain." The district is set to spend the bulk of its $800,000 in left-over coronavirus relief funds addressing students' access to the internet. Whether that means providing hotspots or paying for internet service providers outright is yet to be seen. One-to-one laptops or similar technology will be available. It received more than $3.9 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds. While other schools are releasing plans and requiring families to opt into one or the other for at least the first semester, Graham said Lorain is hoping to be more flexible. The details of in-person and online options aside, no solution will be risk-free. In-person classes, even if there are only 10 or 11 students in a room, are still riskier than online-only options. But remote learning highlights infrastructure problems within the city — bad connectivity outside of families who just can't afford internet access — or other community-based issues. "Right now, everybody's nervous about every option. There's no ideal solution whether you have your kids at home … you can be a parent or have a job but you can't really do both these days. So a lot of parents need their children to be in school so they can go to work and pay rent but they don't want to take the risk of sending their children to school because of all the unknowns." He added, "Right now we're still in the process of identifying needs. So once we have the needs then we'll start to create plans to meet those needs." A Lorain Board of Education meeting originally set for 5 p.m. Monday has been moved to Thursday evening, Graham said. There, administrators will go over findings from the Open with Care family survey, and a conceptual look at what school will be in just a few weeks. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.