Board may reverse uniform policy
POTTSTOWN » The Pottstown School Board may consider repealing its trademark school uniform policy, but it doesn’t appear to be in any kind of rush to do so.
At the June 15 board meeting, vice president Emanuel Wilkerson reported to the full board that the policy committee voted to recommend replacing the uniform policy with a “comprehensive dress policy.”
This was the issue that Wilkerson championed when still a student member of the school board and he successfully convinced the board to remove the uniform pol-
icy at the high school.
It was left intact at Pottstown Middle School and the district’s four elementary schools.
Now the continuance of that policy remains in question, as well as the timing
for making a final decision.
At the June 15 meeting, School Board President Amy Francis — who spearheaded the effort to put the uniform policy in place more than 10 years ago — said she did not want to discuss the matter with two members missing.
But no discussion was held at the June 19 meeting either, perhaps because four
board members were missing at that meeting, including Wilkerson.
Board member Kurt Heidel said at the June 15 meeting that he did not think the policy should be changed for the school year that starts in September because there were no July board meetings scheduled and he did not think making an announcement
in August gave parents enough time to buy the right clothing.
However since then, the board has decided to hold a workshop meeting on July 27, although a time and place have not yet been announced.
There seemed to be general agreement, however, that the proposal to rescind
the uniform policy and replace it with a “strict dress code” might be discussed there.
However, given that it is a “workshop” meeting, it’s unclear if any votes would take place. There are usually no votes at workshop meetings.
Since then Heidel has reiterated his belief that any change in policy should not be implemented in the coming school year.
On Tuesday night, he Tweeted: “As far as I see it, as one of nine members, we cannot change the uniform policy for the 2017-18 school year.”
It remains to be seen if the other board members will agree with him.