Over the summer before the 2022-2023 school year began, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) updated their uniform policy as the board instated Policy 0014. Policy 0114, the new uniform policy, was created to allow schools throughout the county to enforce their acting uniform policies or change them. 

This school year, Parkdale changed its uniform policy and continues to be a uniform school. Students in grades nine and ten are expected to wear white polo shirts while students in grades 11 and 12 are required to wear green or black polo shirts. All students must have khaki bottoms and their ID suspended around their neck. This uniform policy was set in place starting the 2022-2023 school year. 

But how does this relate back to Policy 0114? According to this new policy, all schools who were uniform schools before the new policy will remain uniform schools between 2022 and 2027 unless a petition is signed to change that school’s uniform policy. According to the PGCPS Board of Education, “this new process entails a petition by the parents or guardians of at least 20 percent of the number of students enrolled at the school.” This then prompts the principal of said school to create a committee made up of students, parents, and staff. The committee is then meant to discuss a new uniform policy and put it up for vote in which at least 50 percent of parents must vote in the affirmative. If said votes are casted, the new uniform policy would go  into effect the following school year. 

Parkdale High School has been a uniform school for nearly 15 years, but that could change in the future depending on the student body. However, Policy 0114 has not been truly addressed at Parkdale this year, and many parents are unaware of the possibility of starting a petition. 

“The school hasn’t mentioned a single thing about how changing the uniform policy is an actual thing we can do,” said senior Matthew Conte. “All that we were told was that we had a new uniform policy, even stricter than last year’s.” 

The policy itself states “The Board of Education believes that students attending Prince George’s County Public Schools should dress in a way that is consistent with creating a positive and non-disruptive learning environment and respecting students’ rights to express themselves through their choice of personal attire. The decision whether to adopt a school-site uniform program is to be made at the local school level in accordance with PGCPS administrative procedures.”

The new and current uniform policy at Parkdale can be challenged on county guidelines about the uniform policy. This new change to the uniform and reinforcement of a mandatory uniform policy “seems unfair since our parents weren’t even given the chance to vote on it,” added Conte. 

With the procedures and guidelines set in Policy 0114 by the Board of Education, Parkdale does have the chance  to change its current mandatory uniform policy and adopt either a no uniform, uniform optional, or mandatory uniform policy.