OK folks, it’s time for an update concerning my favorite store: Educational Outfitters!

The weather has gotten cool so we had to go get some long pants for school. This of course is traumatic because getting pants means going back to the rude, Stalinist folks at Educational Outfitters. Any other store with such low quality (that’s important to this story) and poor service would NEVER get a single cent of our money, but we went there anyway. You can read more about why I like Educational Outfitters so much HERE.

The purchase was typical: long, slow moving lines, etc. Unfortunately, the first pair of pants was of such incredible quality that it literally disintegrated when it was washed. It was like the threads holding the waist together were water-soluble. It was amazing.

So, I suppose it was on Monday, 10/28/07, that I made the daunting journey down Woodruff Rd, past target, past the I-85 bridge, past Green Ridge, past the I-385 interchange, and on to the Wal-Mart shopping center where Educational Outfitters is located. It’s only about three miles away, but took about 35 minutes to get there. When I went in, the store was remarkably void of peasants customers by force.

After I stated my issue with the poor quality of their product, they fetched me a replacement item without hesitation. It’s bad that the clothing at Educational Outfitters stinks, but at least they offered (in a weird sort of way) decent service for a change.

As we gear up to place another order with Educational Outfitters, the comments some of you have made come to mind.

In previous articles, I have acknowledged that we have a choice. We can choose not to spend our money at Educational Outfitters, but - because of the abuses involved - such a choice forces upon us other choices that just are not practical. It’s like telling people to leave our country if they don’t like the way it’s run. Sure, the choice exists, but it just isn’t reasonable. We can change schools, change to Government School, or even home school. No doubt about that. So the question I have is, “Does the existence of some level of choice negate my claim that the setup with Educational Outfitters wreaks of Stalin?” I have to say “No.”

The supposition that I am ignorant of economic principles has no place here. I have attempted to portray the dissonance I experience while recognizing that Educational Outfitters has used the free market, capitalistic, entrepreneurial system to carve a lucrative niche in the marketplace. To that extent, I can say that I have no problem with Educational Outfitters. Where the Stalinist model comes in is with the consideration that those in power with the bureaucracy have made a decision to compel others to purchase items from one (and only one) supplier. In return, the school receives kickbacks from that supplier. Only at this point in the microcosm do we begin to see that the logical outcome of this situation is poor quality and high prices.

Because the purchasing decision of hundreds of parents has been unilaterally committed by the bureaucracy to Educational Outfitters, that same entity that was formed in the free market now exhibits the treachery of Stalinistic oppression.

The forces that compel EO to provide quality goods and services have been eliminated. This little corner of the world has non-elastic demand: Regardless of quality AND price, EO will sell the same amount of goods and services. No matter how many customers get angry; no matter how many customers are treated like crap; no matter how many orders are lost or delayed; no matter how rude the EO employees are to the customer; the truth remains that Educational Outfitters will not lose a discernible amount of business and they will have no incentive to make improvements. It’s the fate of the communist system throughout history.

Customers do not have the liberty to “just decide” not to go to EO anymore. To do so would force an incredibly unnecessary disruption of the student’s and the family’s life. The school won’t demand accountability from EO because the bureaucracy wants to keep the kickbacks coming in. The cycle is hard to break because the bureaucracy becomes dependent on the revenue from EO, and EO becomes dependent on those same payoffs to continue to captivate customers. The quality of goods and services will not improve because all competition and incentive has been eliminated. The irony here is that Educational Outfitters has used the free market to stifle the free market.

Those who point to the available choices to change schools, utilize government schools, or home school, display their ignorance and their failure to understand that the existence of choices does not indicate that a system is not Stalinist! Even in the most oppressive communist societies, choices exist! You can patronize the state-operated store, or you may not. In fact, we could say that “if you don’t like the State store, you still have the choice to either starve to death or to kill yourself in a different way,” so then, by the definition of some, Stalinist oppression could never exist because of the existence of choices!

Now, we know that Stalinism exists, so the existence of choice does not suffice as a determining factor in whether a system is (or is not) oppressive. The criteria to judge must be based on the availability of reasonable choices. For those who refuse to participate in the Government School system, Government Schools are not a reasonable choice. That’s why an increasing number of people are turning to private schools to educate their children. Without any doubt, most people involved in private education have similar feelings.

Thus, my reasoning has come full circle. Changing schools or compromising principle is not a reasonable choice. Similarly, having one person as part of the bureaucracy dictate to hundreds of people that they must patronize one single store is not reasonable. So, while the bureaucracy has abused its position by imposing such an oppressive policy, Educational Outfitters has abused its position by using the market to restrict the market. In all of this, the parents lose because they want to do what’s right: they conform to the bureaucracy’s edicts and they purchase goods and services from Educational Outfitters. In the end, none but the parents are justified.

Click HERE to read past articles about Educational Outfitters and school uniform attire.

Almost 1 year ago, I communicated the truth about school uniforms to the Shannon Forest Christian School administration. I specifically recounted the failure of the school uniform policy at our previous school in effort to explain the problems associated with this spurious solution. In my letter I said:

“The school uniform attire created an entirely new social competition. New ways were constantly being invented to stretch the rules, introducing immodesty into what was sold as an impregnable bastion of virtue. The number of rules as well as their complexity multiplied beyond comprehension. The dress code got so bad that acceptable underwear was being defined and the heels of girl’s shoes were being measured. Blouses and shirts would be too tight (but then who’s going to define too tight?). Skirts and trousers would be too short (but who’s to say what is too short?). Parents debated and argued, thinking that as long as their children wore the uniform attire they would be OK – Right? Wrong. The matter of enforcement was just as subjective as ever. Then of course was the ever-present exceptions granted to the children belonging to the families of the largest donors and those with the most tuition-bearing students. All this transpired while we were forced to accommodate a rapidly changing complex schedule of uniform changes and combinations.

Lo, and behold! The first in what promises to be a long succession of clarifications and revisions was published today. All I can say is, “See, I told you so!” The only thing that really bothers me is that we will continue to be forced to incur additional expenditures as we try to comply with the ever-evolving dress code.  The enforcement of the previously-existing SFCS dress code could have prevented all this!

Interesting to note as well is the fact that service continues to suck from Educational Outfitters (the HELLISH providers of uniform attire). Here is the famous “first step” in the spiral to an out-of-control school uniform attire dress code that was published today:

DATE: September 19, 2007
TO: Upper School Parents
FROM: Brenda Hillman
RE: Clarification of classroom attire policy

Thank you again for your efforts in our transition into a uniform attire policy. Throughout the course of the school year we will be evaluating the effectiveness of service providers, the breadth of attire that is allowed by policy, what is working and what areas need to be reconsidered.

We are continuing to address the following issues with students:
• Male shirts need to be tucked in if they fall below the pocket.
• Male white button down shirts have to be tucked in.
• Males may wear white t-shirts under all shirts.
• Males may wear white turtlenecks underneath their polo shirts.
• Females are not allowed to layer their tops – all undergarments should be white or natural in color and should not be visible under shirts or blouses. No lace or undergarment should show below the shirt, at the sleeves or neckline.
• Females may also wear white turtlenecks under SFCS logo attire.

For clarification; only SFCS outerwear from Educational Outfitters may be worn inside the classroom on a daily basis. In-season athletes are permitted to wear their uniform, including jackets or warm-ups on game days only as approved by Rita Harrell and Larry Clark.

Beginning Monday, September 24, 2007, students arriving to the classroom with something other than approved SFCS gear will be sent to the Upper School office. We are aware that there is still a back order issue with Educational Outfitters and will acquire a list from students not in compliance so that we can assist with obtaining items for you.

Students who are found in willful violation of the dress code will begin serving detention the week of the 24 of September.

Click HERE to read the school uniform attire HELL archive from the TIW Blog.

UPDATE: MY RESPONSE TO “CLARIFICATION:”

Hello!

This letter of clarification states, “We will be evaluating the effectiveness of service providers.”

Just in case you didn’t know, Educational Outfitters has been completely unacceptable as a “service provider” by every conceivable measure. The merchandise is of a quality that is grossly inferior to merchandise purchased from ordinary retailers at almost any price. Essential items are routinely unavailable. The pre-paid embroidery has been delayed *and* lost. Incompetent billing has resulted in skyrocketing incidental costs. The attitude of the staff is hopelessly careless, since they know that they don’t have to earn our patronage. Any other business that treated us in a manner remotely similar to the way Educational Outfitters has treated us would have lost our business after our first visit.

For some unfortunate reason I think they KNOW that WE always will be back for more!!!!

Best regards,

Bruce

I went ahead and endure the non-moving traffic on Woodruff Road to go back to Educational Outfitters. The mission? To exchange the shorts with the botched logo with a new pair.

It took about 25 minutes to get to the store. The store was lightly patronized at the time I arrived. When I walked in, there was a boy at the counter with perhaps two people waiting. There was another patron standing in the open area that is in front of the door. I glanced over to the left and saw the woman who “helped” me last time. She recognized me and when I made eye contact she came over to me (I suspect that she recognized me from yesterday).

I reviewed the situation where they told us on Monday (8/27) that the order was ready for pick up. I reviewed how that I was at the store yesterday to pick up and I was given a bag with shorts in it. Then I reviewed how that she took the shorts back saying that they needed a logo. Then I pulled out the shorts and showed her what kind of sucky job she did on it. I stayed pretty calm and so did she. I followed her over to the left side of the store (facing inward from the door) and explained to her that I do not want to patronize Educational Outfitters because of the bad service and lousy merchandise. I explained to her that the store is worth less than my effort to open its door. Then she said “these shorts look a little small, what size is your daughter?” First I told her that I have a son, not a daughter. Then I had to call Gwen to see what size we ordered. Turns out that we ordered a men’s small, not the youth medium that Educational Outfitters sold us!

She said, don’t worry, we’re going to get all this fixed. Also, she told me that the grey shirts had come in and that I could pick it up today as well. After confirming the sizes over the phone, I explained to the woman how that we already had left one school just to get away from Educational Outfitters, and how that we are stuck with them again. She asked if this was our first year at Shannon Forest and I explained to her that this is our third year. She said that she is also a Shannon Forest parent. Anyway, I told her how that if a restaurant has bad food that I usually don’t say anything about it - I just don’t go back. I told her when stores offer me such lousy service, crappy clothes, and high prices, I normally would never go back to that store again! But guess what? I told her that I was fully aware that I would be back! I explained to her that I am in a Stalinistic trap that forces me to continue acquiring goods and services from Educational Outfitters EVEN THOUGH they have completely disrespected me and have proven to be unworthy of our patronage. She told me that I wouldn’t leave the store without having these items correct and I thought to myself, “damn right I won’t!” Oh well, that’s it.

To summarize:

- I am STILL receiving the worst service, the worst goods, and the worst pricing from Educational Outfitters. This is the result of the marketing of product directly to the school decision makers (coinciding with financial incentives), not to the customers.

- Because Educational Outfitter’s Stalinist plan depends on selling goods and services to those who are not the consumers of those goods and services:

- Educational Outfitters has ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONCERN for providing quality goods.
- Educational Outfitters has ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONCERN for providing satisfactory service.
- Educational Outfitters has ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONCERN for providing reasonable prices.
- Educational Outfitters has ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONCERN for improving goods, services or prices.
- Educational Outfitters has ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONCERN for satisfying customers.

Because Shannon Forest refused to satisfy their obligation to enforce the dress code:

- Parents have been forced to purchase an entirely new set of clothes for each student that can only be worn to school.
- Parents have been forced to patronize a Stalinist business called Educational Outfitters that has no concern for the prices and quality of its goods and services.
- Parents who have worked hard to make sure their students complied with Shannon Forest policy have been screwed.
- The Shannon Forest dress code is continuing to be violated by students who wear the correct “uniform” items, but wear them immodestly (short and tight skirts, short and tight shorts, short and tight pants, unbuttoned buttons, and other areas of non-compliance). The dress code is now more difficult to enforce because every student (and parent) now has an excuse: “We are wearing the school uniforms.”
- I have been forced to accept the disrespect, ill-treatment, and humiliation that is routinely dispensed by the Educational Outfitters staff.
- I think Shannon Forest acted irresponsibly by refusing to enforce the dress code that existed before the 2007-08 school year.
- I think Shannon Forest acted irresponsibly by penalizing those who conformed to the existing dress code, by forcing us to purchase an entirely new set of clothes and limiting choice of suppliers.
- By colluding with Educational Outfitters, Shannon Forest has violated our right as Americans to a free market, our freedom to chose, and our right to dignity and respect as human beings.

On the night of 8/21/07 (the night before the first day of school), I accidentally learned from the Athletic Director at SFCS that middle school students required a special uniform for PE. I’ll give you 3 guesses at where we have to get these uniforms…. YOU’RE RIGHT! EDU-freakin-CATION-blast-ED OUT-freakin-FITTERS! DA*N!!

So the next day, my wife promptly goes down there and orders a PE uniform for our son. Of course, they were VERY prompt in taking our money! It cost about $28 for an ultra-low-quality grey shirt and a matching ultra-cheesy pair of shorts. -OF COURSE, THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE THEM IN THE STORE! Besides, they have to have logos or something stamped on them too, so they’ll just call us when the order is ready.

Amazingly, we actually did receive a call from Educational Outfitters on Monday, 8/27, saying that our order was ready to be picked up. I gave them a few extra days to get things together in case they were lying, so I went over there yesterday, 8/30/07 at about 1145 A.M. So, after standing around waiting for someone to assist me for about 15 minutes, a woman took my name and disappeared in search of our order. She returned, handed me a tied-up bag and I said “thank you” and left.

When I sat down in the car, something seemed funny about the bag. I opened it up and inside was one plain pair of ultra-cheesy, plain shorts (no shirt).

I immediately went back inside the store and asked the woman to check my order because I was pretty sure that we had also purchased a shirt. She checked and said that we had ordered a shirt, but the store didn’t have any. I asked a reasonable question: “Why did you call us to tell us that the order is ready when the order is not ready? She did not answer the question, then said, “Y’know what? These shorts are supposed to have a logo on them.” With that, she disappeared to the back of the store for about 15 minutes. She returned (finally), handed me the bag with the shorts in them, and told me that the shirts will be here on Monday (9/3). So I left, in a moderate state of fury.

My moderate state of fury escalated to a “very high” condition when later in the day, I looked at the shorts. The logo that the woman put on the shorts was messed up! It looks like on the first try something went wrong, so she just put another logo on top of it! The results are that the shorts look like trash.

Here’s the image of the great handiwork of Educational Outfitters:

The logo is clearly double-struck and not acceptable - especially for the price paid for the shorts. I will be taking this back today (for more Hell), so stay tuned for updates.
(Click for Larger Image)

(Click for Larger Image)

If you are new to the school uniform / Educational Outfitters fiasco, check the other links to get caught up with what’s going on.

UPDATE: MORE HELL FROM EDUCATIONAL OUTFITTERS
Friday, August 31st, 2007
———-
UPDATE: Still More Educational Outfitters HELL!
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
———-
UPDATE: More Educational Outfitters HELL!
Monday, August 20th, 2007
———-
Educational Outfitters: HELL
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
———-
Letter concerning SFCS change to school uniforms
Monday, October 30th, 2006

I returned to Educational Outfitters Monday evening at about 5:40 pm. The line was so long, there was no way I could wait my turn in the front, so I made my way to the rear-right corner of the store where the stinkin’ embroidery machines are. I spoke with some young guy who clearly did not know what was going on. They have these trash cans filled with bags of orders everywhere & this guy starts emptying one after another looking for my stuff. On the fifth trash can load, he found it! HOOORAY! I walked out of there comforted by knowing that I don’t have to go there again for a while… WRONG!

When at the school last night, I found out that we need Phys Ed uniforms too! Guess where THEY come from?? The Stalinist, Marxist entity known as Educational Outfitters! D&MN!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEIR SH1TTY CLOTHES!! D&MN THE FREAKIN’ CREEPS WHO MADE THE DECISION TO FORCE US TO BUY AT EDUCATIONAL OUTFITTERS!!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEM!! D&MN THEM ALL!!

To be freaking continued….

Read the last article about Educational Outfitters
Read the article before the last article about Educational Outfitters
Read the letter I sent to SFCS concerning their decision to change to school uniforms

If any doubt existed before that Educational Outfitters is nothing short of a Stalinist enterprise in collusion with money-hungry private schools, today removed all doubt. Even after sending the email this week (Read it HERE), I showed up just before noon to pick up our shirts and - guess what?

First, I had to go over there because they didn’t answer their phone. Then, I stood there at the counter for 40 minutes while the gray-haired man said he was looking for the shirts. He came back to the counter to check the computer a few times and then he said that all of Shannon Forest was finished but he couldn’t find our shirts. He said that the people who do the embroidery would be in this afternoon and he’d check with them to locate our shirts. He offered to bring them to the house which was sort of sensitive of him (he seemed to be aware that I am a highly irate peasant slave “customer.”

Don’t get me wrong: I am 100% for free enterprise & capitalism. The problem with the Educational Outfitters business plan is that they don’t market to customers: they market to schools who (1) desire the extra income from the EO kickbacks and (2) don’t have any vested interest in the service provided by the store. Therefore, this is more of a Marxist Stalinist setup because (a.) all competition has been eliminated, (b.) customers have no choice but to purchase clothing from the store, and (c.) no incentive to provide satisfactory goods and services exist. The price structure is inelastic because parents are coerced into either buying from the store or changing schools.

Bottom line: the greedy decision makers at private schools are responsible for the very existence of this predatory business (Educational Outfitters). If no schools hooked into their scheme, we’d be buying regular clothes at regular prices right now; rather than groveling around hoping they give us the shirts that we’ve already paid for in time for the first day of school. Sure, we could change schools again because of Educational Outfitters, but what happens when the new school signs up with them? Yep, we are up sh*t’s creek!

I’ll be dropping by the store again at about 5:30 p.m. I’ll report what happens later.

I have almost had too much of Educational Outfitters. I am so sick of this school uniform crap too. I thought that when we changed schools we’d be free of this place forever: WRONG! SFCS changed to school uniforms this past school year, against our wishes, and apparently against the wishes of most of the parents. Bottom line is that they didn’t want to enforce the dress code, so now we have to pay exorbitant prices for shabby clothing at Educational Outfitters!

I am angry and frustrated at what happened at the store today. Here’s the email I sent them:

Subject: Enraged Customer: Terrible experience at your store

From: Bruce Tyson <brucetyson@earthlink.net>

To: dmorse@educationaloutfitters.com

Date: 8/14/07 4:30 PM

Dear Educational Outfitters,

I am an extremely IRATE customer. I am also very reasonable, so all I want from you is for you to read my complaint, improve your store and get my blasted shirts done before my children’s first day of school - OK? I’m certainly stuck with your outfit (pardon the pun) and you’re certainly going to continue taking my money and sending at least 3% of it to our children’s school, so the least you could do is listen to me.

Here’s just a little background. Please don’t skip it. By the way, I find the “IN YOUR FACE” way you brag about being in the Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 to be offensive and disgusting. You’ve found a way to trap and exploit hundreds of parents into paying high prices for low quality merchandise by marketing your kickback schemes directly to schools. Brilliant idea, but people like me have SUFFERED from your freakin’ entrepreneurial endeavor as a result! By manipulating a few suckers at the school, you have leveraged their power to FORCE US TO BECOME YOUR CUSTOMERS AGAIN. Certainly I am not the only one who despises and resents your store’s very existence.

One of the major reasons we changed schools a few years ago was to get away from having to deal with your store, Educational Outfitters. You probably couldn’t imagine our horror this year when our school made the very bad decision to go with uniforms and - of course - to hook up with YOUR scam to further increase our clothing costs (which just happens to earn themselves a kickback from your store). Sure, we explained our opposition to the school administration, but we are still stuck with you. What are we supposed to do… change schools every year? What happens when the next new school buys into your scam?

What’s really bad is that you have the mentality of an auto insurance company: you know that people are stuck needing your product so you can treat your customers like sewage with confidence, knowing that you won’t lose them. Only worse, our choice is limited to YOU. So you understand why I am angry just at the thought that I have no choice but to deal with you! That’s exactly where we are. Tough on us, I know.

I was in your store today to purchase two pairs of shorts and (yes, dreaming) to pick up the shirts we ordered from you last week. Of course the shirts aren’t ready and there’s no discernible concern among your staff to make sure that they are ready by August 21. The attitude I got is ” So what, they’ll be ready when they’re ready.” Which is fine: who’s going to hold you and your store accountable for your disrespectful discourteous service? Me? I don’t think so. What am I supposed to say? Any other store would have to earn my business. If I had a bad experience at any other store, I just wouldn’t go back, but I can’t stop patronizing YOUR store without disrupting my children’s lives again! What else? Complain? Yeah, I’m sure they’re going to discontinue this fund raiser just because you don’t value your customers. Right. They’ve already told me what they think of my opinion.

This brings me to the rant that my wife experienced in your store when the employee was complaining about all the people who wait until the last minute to buy their stinkin’ uniform clothing from your store. Well maybe it’s because some of us struggle quite a bit just to pay for our children’s school and maybe the additional burden of purchasing your inferior-quality goods at exorbitant prices makes it very difficult to acquire this stuff. As it is, we’re trying to get one set of clothes for each or our children so that they have something to wear on the first day of school. Sure, we’ll be back and we will despise it every second (my visit today took over an hour, so that’s 3,600 seconds that not only wasted my life but left me thoroughly enraged and cost me a total of two ours of working time (going down Woodruff Road: now that’s a convenient location, isn’t it? That’s sarcasm by the way). I really feel good about spending almost an hour round trip in traffic just to get to your store to buy lousy clothes and be treated lousy by your employees and then to get my whole life screwed up because of your carelessness.

So, our life has a lot of sorry people we have to pay, that’s just the way it is. I can accept that. What really angered me is that when I FINALLY got to check out, the cashier told me the bill was $44.50, but then charged my card $77.97! So when I pointed out the discrepancy, he said he’d fix it: he sure did too! He ran through a refund for the entire $77.97 and then charged my card $44.50! As you know, banks are always able to reserve funds INSTANTLY, but they never seem to manage to handle refunds quite so fast. Now, I am out a total of $122.47 for $44.50 of shoddy clothes!

I know. You probably say, “SO WHAT?” just like you did to the black man whose order you lost (you treated him like sewage too, only WORSE, so at least I’m not alone in my disdain for Educational Outfitters). Well, here’s so what! First, I have a small check out that’s likely to clear tonight, so that’s going to cost me an extra $35 because of YOUR carelessness. Second, I was hoping to purchase a couple trivial things such as FOOD so we have something to eat tonight. Well, that’s just too bad on me because rather than having $85.51 less a $25 check, available, I have only $7.51. That’s really enough to feed a family for a day.

Hopefully you can understand the incredible hardship your store has caused me today. Hopefully you can understand the horrific situation we are in having changed schools to get away from you and now we’re stuck with you again. Hopefully you can have the decency to start treating your customers with respect and have a little bit of empathy with them knowing that they are trying to do their best for their family and want their children to have at least *something* to wear when school starts. Hopefully, I will have a better experience at your freakin’ store next time… because you know for a fact that I’ll be back.

With utter disdain and disregard,

Bruce Tyson

October 31, 2006

Referencing the letter of October 26, 2006 discussing the problems concerning the Dress Code at Shannon Forest Christian School, we appreciate the administration’s desire to reign in those parents of students who openly defy the published SFCS dress code. What became apparent through this letter and the accompanying survey is that a final decision to impose school uniforms for the coming school year has already been made.

While we certainly appreciate that the appearance of some of the students seems to constitute violations of the SFCS Dress Code, we do not understand why we are about to become penalized for the insubordination of other parents and students. Prior to our decision to move our children to SFCS, we were aware of the SFCS Dress Code. Since becoming part of the SFCS family, we have taken upon ourselves to ensure that our sons were in compliance with this policy as well as all other policies. This is our responsibility as parents. We think it quite reasonable to believe that the SFCS administration should possess enough authority to enforce the Dress Code as-is without needless quibbling over the definitions of words such as flip flops, sandals, modesty, etc.

We live in a bizarre society that seems to habitually debate definitions as a means to justify unacceptable behavior. Just recall Bill Clinton’s antics or remember how that South Carolina now has to vote about the definition of marriage! We believe that SFCS should not cater to those who are empowered by such ineffectual arguments.

Another area of our concern is the passive manner in which the school uniform attire is being presented. The letter of October 26 says nothing about school uniforms. The attached survey professes to seek our opinions, but on it we find no indication that our opinion of school uniform attire is desired. Indeed, we have no reason to believe that the section for additional comments (to which we now respond) is nothing more than a feigned attempt to create the illusion of collaboration.

Part of the reason we left our previous school was because of their school uniform policy. While on the surface it sounded like a good idea, the policy was a mounting burden upon us that eventually became unacceptable. We pursued enrollment at SFCS partially because our children could wear normal clothing within the stated standards.

The school uniform attire created an entirely new social competition. New ways were constantly being invented to stretch the rules, introducing immodesty into what was sold as an impregnable bastion of virtue. The number of rules as well as their complexity multiplied beyond comprehension. The dress code got so bad that acceptable underwear was being defined and the heels of girl’s shoes were being measured. Blouses and shirts would be too tight (but then who’s going to define too tight?). Skirts and trousers would be too short (but who’s to say what is too short?). Parents debated and argued, thinking that as long as their children wore the uniform attire they would be OK – Right? Wrong. The matter of enforcement was just as subjective as ever. Then of course was the ever-present exceptions granted to the children belonging to the families of the largest donors and those with the most tuition-bearing students. All this transpired while we were forced to accommodate a rapidly changing complex schedule of uniform changes and combinations.

We think that definitions should be uniform, not clothing. By our recollection, the SFCS handbook seems to be quite clear concerning dress code. After reading it, we were quite clear concerning what types of clothing were and were not acceptable. We believe that the administration should not waffle on definitions and enforce the dress code as defined.

We think that parents (such as ourselves) who have made the conscious effort to comply with all policies of SFCS (including the dress code) are now being penalized because of the lack of cooperation by other parents and by the administration’s apparent lack of will to enforce existing policy. We would like to see the burden of dress code compliance placed upon violators, not upon us. We suggest that those who continue to defy SFCS policy should be dismissed.

We appreciate the time you have expended on consideration of our thoughts. Our desire is to see the existing dress code enforced without the expensive, intrusive, and ineffective imposition of uniform attire.

Best regards,