Statewide,

the average reduction in discipline problems for school

systems that use uniforms is 40 percent, state Rep. Kathy

Cox told a group of interested parents and teachers last

week.

In a public

forum focusing on school safety and preventing student

violence, topics ranged from giving teachers more leeway

in expelling disruptive students to putting Internet

cameras in each classroom, but consensus among the group

of about 35 who attended was that uniforms should be

mandatory for all Fayette students, regardless of any

other solutions offered.

And in

light of a recent Supreme Court decision that holds

teachers responsible if students sexually harass each

other, Cox said teachers "would be crazy" not

to support mandatory uniforms. "Victoria's Secret

has not helped the situation in high school," she

said, calling student dress problems "a mushroom

that's out of control."

"Why

do we need to poll the parents?" asked Richard Hobbs

in response to news last week that Brooks Elementary

School will start a voluntary uniform program. The school

didn't make that decision until the school Parent Teacher

Organization polled parents and 56 percent of those who

responded were in favor.

Hobbs said

the Board of Education should "be leaders" and

enact a mandatory uniform policy without asking parents'

permission.

But it's

not that simple, said superintendent of schools Dr. John

DeCotis. DeCotis, director of secondary education Wayne

Robinson and Sandy Creek High School counselor Dan Lorton

made up a panel of education experts.

The school

board is seeking volunteers for a task force that will

study uniforms as part of an overall school safety

strategy, and that panel will need parent support to make

its suggestions work, said DeCotis.

"We

have to go beyond that [uniforms] too, and look at some

other issues," DeCotis said.

If uniforms

are made mandatory, said Cox, "There's going to be a

lawsuit about expession, personal freedom, things like

that."

The county

will be in a better position to win that lawsuit if there

is demonstrated community support for its policies, she

added.

Cox, who

represents the southern part of Fayette, handed out

copies of a new state law that seeks to address the need

for greater discipline in schools. "In some areas,

the state is just doing what Fayette County has been

doing all along," she said, "but now it's state

law."

The bill,

which goes into effect for the 2000-2001 school year,

requires parental involvement when there are discipline

problems.

School

systems also are required to enact codes of dress and

conduct, and "character education" programs

designed to teach a list of 27 character traits such as

honesty, fairness, kindness and respect for others, for

the environment and for "the creator."

Also part

of the new law is a provision allowing teachers to remove

disruptive students, and requiring that schools have

"placement review" committees to decide where a

student who is tossed from a classroom should be placed,

or to put the student back into the classroom if the

committee deems that the teacher acted wrongly.

Alternative

schools also must be provided, and school systems must

conduct studies and file reports on disciplinary

problems, all of which will cost money, said the

panelists.

"The

more I learn about it, I think the state is trying to be

proactive," said DeCotis. "But it's got to be

funded."

Greg

Powers, a school board member in attendance, said

Fayette's schools already are wrestling with a $4 million

budget shortfall. "This [the bill] is great -

I'm not knocking it. But give us some funding for

this," he said.

Cox agreed

and promised to take that concern directly to Gov. Roy

Barnes. "Definitely it's `cart before the horse' in

a lot of ways," Cox said of the unfunded

requirements.

Fayette

County schools already are doing several things to try

and prevent student violence, the school officials told

the gathering.

"About

three years ago we updated our code of conduct, and now

we've established a committee to look at those [safety]

issues," said DeCotis.

The school

system isn't just reacting to recent outbreaks of

violence in Littleton, Colo. and Conyers, Ga., said

Robinson. "Actually, we reacted last year to what

happened in Pearl [Miss.], Jonesboro [Ark.] and Paducah

[Ky.]," he said. "We have to continue to try to

look in those areas."

There is

already a code of conduct and a dress code, said DeCotis,

and local school officials participated in two workshops

this year, one on drug abuse and one on violence, he

added.

All the

schools have truancy programs and crisis programs, and

teachers are instructed on what to do if someone comes

into the school who doesn't belong there.

The task

force will gather input from parents, law enforcement

groups and the community as a whole, said Robinson, in

looking for still more ways schools can be made safe.

"Everybody

wants to know what have you done, what are you doing and

what are you going to do," he added.

Even though

the state funds school counselors only at the high school

level, Fayette's board funds its own counselors in middle

and elementary schools, said the officials. Fayete

schools also have conflict resolution programs, resource

officers and an anti-gang policy, said DeCotis.

Suggestions

for further anti-violence measures include student photo

identification badges so disruptive students can be

easily identified, and Internet cameras in the classroom

so parents can tune in and check on their children... and

the teachers.

A woman who

made that last suggestion said parents would be willing

to pay for computer access to the classroom during the

school day. "I will write you a check right

now," she said.

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