Spending time and effort implementing uniform policies may detract from more effective efforts to reduce crime in schools and boost student performance. More substantive improvements to public education could be achieved with smaller class sizes, tightened security, increased parental involvement, improved facilities, and other measures. Tom Houlihan, former Superintendent of Schools in Oxford, NC, stated that school uniforms "are a distraction from focusing on systematic and fundamental transformation to improve our schools." I believe our administration spends more time worrying about dress code and less time worrying about what can be done to improve our teachers and children’s learning environment. What needs to be focused on is what is wrong with our district not if our children have on a belt. I would not mind paying to improve our facilities in order to create smaller class sizes and implement better security systems to protect our teachers and student. Many parents in our district struggle at the beginning of the year to scrounge up enough money to buy their children uniforms. This should not be a worry for parents. Getting their child a quality education to better their economic stability as an adult should be our main focus. The push for school uniforms is driven by commercial interests rather than educational ones. Americans spend around $1 billion on school uniforms every year. Retailer J.C. Penney Co. says school uniforms are "a huge, important business for us." In 2003 alone, uniform company Lands' End spent $3 million on marketing efforts directed at public schools and districts. Multiple studies used to promote the effectiveness of uniforms were partly funded by Lands' End, and at least one of those studies is "so wholly flawed as to render itself useless," according to David L. Brunsma, PhD. In Aug. 2013, Reuters reported that retailers were "sensing their opportunity... stepping up competition in the uniform aisles and online. Walmart has set up 'uniform shops' or temporary boutiques within some stores." We are promised that our children will receive a free education from public school, but this is far from the truth. This year let us focus on the true problem at hand. Help our teachers and staff by creating a less hostile work environment. Trim the fat at the ESC office. Financially support or teachers with the money they need to create a better learning environment for our children, and get rid of the main issue that continues to be a common problem Dr. Wilcox. I would once again like to thank all the teachers and staff a LISD for your continuing fight to educate our children.