Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood was called up to the podium to speak to a crowd at the Onset Bay Association’s meeting on Jan. 23. With a chance to reach so many involved community members, her topic of choice was school uniforms.

“Target has uniforms. Walmart has uniforms. You can find a polo shirt just about anywhere,” said Shaver-Hood. “It would be really basic: just a shirt and some pants.”

The idea of school uniforms was initially discussed at the first Superintendent’s advisory committee on Jan. 9. The committee, a mixture of residents and school committee members, were tasked with taking their friends’, family’s and neighbor’s temperatures on the matter.

“It would help some of our students whose parents find it hard to outfit them,” said Shaver-Hood.

This is an important topic for Shaver-Hood because allows students to be on a “level playing field.” When she says this, she means that students can sometimes compete with – even bully – other students based on the clothes they wear.

“Students are very fashion-conscious. If I don’t have the Abercrombie or whatever the latest trend is, or the whatever the outfit of the day is… sometimes that could cause me to get picked on as a student,” said Shaver-Hood.

However, Shaver-Hood does not want to force the issue without community support. This explains why she brings up the topic at public get-togethers.