Eastbluff parent has visions of uniformity

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT BEACH -- Eastbluff Elementary School PTA member Susan Tobiessen

has a uniform vision for schools in the Corona del Mar High School zone.

By the time her 9-year-old daughter Alexandra gets to high school,

Tobiessen wants students at all the schools -- including the high school

-- to be required to wear uniforms.

Newly opened Eastbluff is the only school in the Corona del Mar zone with

such a policy, but Tobiessen said uniforms could make a world of

difference at all schools, especially at the high school, where many

students feel an intense pressure to dress fashionably every day.

Many Costa Mesa elementary schools, including Wilson, Whittier, and

College Park, have uniform policies.

“You handle yourself differently when you’re dressed a certain way,”

Tobiessen said.

“I’m just appalled at what some of these girls wear,” added the mother of

a boy who graduated from Corona del Mar High School last spring.

Corona del Mar does have a dress code that includes a prohibition on tube

tops, but it is not universally enforced, she said.

Tobiessen said some of the girls in her son’s class frequently included

tube tops in their ensembles.

Corona Principal Don Martin could not be reached for comment Friday.

Tobiessen led the charge to bring uniforms to Eastbluff, and said the

results have so delighted her she is convinced they are the best option

for all schools.

“I have to tell you how nice it is to wake up in the morning and not

argue about what my daughter is going to wear,” she said.

School board president Serene Stokes, who represents Corona del Mar, said

there are many benefits to uniforms -- not least of which is that girls

won’t compete to see who can dress the most elaborately.

But Stokes noted that the district’s uniform policy requires parents to

organize uniform drives at their own schools and to give their consent

for such dress codes.

“If someone wants to try it, more power to them,” said Corona del Mar

High School PTA President Karen Yelsey.

Yelsey was at Lincoln Elementary School during a failed bid to get

uniforms at that school several years ago, and said she doubted enough

parents and students at the high school would back the idea.

“Do you know how many times they’ve tried to do this?,” asked Corona del

Mar High School Senior Class President Sarah Parker. “They’ve been trying

to do it since the 80s.”

“I’d be happier,” she added. “It’s a lot cheaper wardrobe-wise, and it

would cut down on the dress competition ... but it will never happen.”