This summer, our school’s administration released the new school uniform policy to counter those who wanted to freely express themselves through their clothing. I.S. 227Q The Louis Armstrong Middle School, is a public 5-8 middle school in the New York City Public Schools System that promised us that they were an all inclusive school, yet this new school uniform policy showed nothing like that. The official uniform consists of a polo ­­­­­­­­­­shirt (main color: grey, with additional options of white or navy blue) and navy bottoms, with no leggings permitted.

DISCLAIMER: SO-related information may be false. There are arguments inside the SO on whether the SO had meetings and voiced their opinion on this issue.

While they claim that “This decision process was made collaboratively by consensus of our SLT, PTA, and SO,” some members of the SO, (also known as the Student Organization, our student leadership body) say that even though there were meetings and discussions where a majority of the SO was against it, the policy continued to go ahead, ignoring students’s opinions. Our former 8th grade President Luca Rustici said, “Apparently there was a vote, the majority opinion was against uniforms yet they’re continuing with it anyways. And now they’re claiming it was done in collaboration with the SO when they actually just ignored us. The reality was they wanted it done but also wanted it to seem like it was a joint effort so they misrepresented our stance and went ahead with the policy. This was never because of bullying it was all about power over students, because the administration made no effort to hear the alleged experiences they faced.” Students' voices were not given a voice to voice their opinions on this debated issue. We were shut out from it.

Our school argues that this year, people were not dressed appropriately, that expressing ourselves through how we dress was just for show off and made to “impress” others, and it was against the school dress code. However, the dress code wasn't even made publicly available. Mandating a school dress code, can not change the students behavior, and it may even be more negative.

A study by Ohio State University showed little to no “difference in our behavior measures, regardless of whether the schools had a uniform policy or not.” Arya Ansari, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University, says that “While uniforms are supposed to build a sense of community, they may have the opposite effect. Fashion is one way that students express themselves, and that may be an important part of the school experience. When students can’t show their individuality, they may not feel like they belong as much. The results of this study should caution parents, teachers and administrators from assuming that school uniforms have positive effects that they may not have. School uniforms may not be the most effective way to improve student behavior and engagement.”

“If you allow the administration to put into effect a dress code the vast majority of you don’t want, you will lose a major creative outlet and the administration will get an even tighter grip on you as students. When I entered my first year at Louis Armstrong I was so happy with how much the school stressed inclusivity and creativity and I really enjoyed my experience prior to Covid 19. When we got back from online learning I believe we lost a lot of what Louis Armstrong Middle school used to stand for but I can tell you, even as someone who no longer attends Louis Armstrong that if the administration takes away your right to express yourself through your clothing there will no longer be any resemblance of the school I and so many others entered nearly three years ago. You cannot let your school fall, there is still so much potential in this school but if you are forced to wear uniforms all of it will be lost. If they successfully instate uniforms and avoid the opinion of the student body they will continue to downplay and ignore your thoughts. You can stop this but you need to make your voice heard to do so. Please stand up,” said Luca. We, the students at LAMS deserve to express ourselves through how we dress.

~Caleb Lee, Student Activist & Journalist for the Armstrong Trumpeter Newspaper