Central Regional School Board Slated To Vote On School Uniforms Tonight

Central Regional High School students heading back to school next September have nixed wearing school uniforms, according to a poll taken on the district website.

Current freshmen, sophomores and juniors voted 658 to 507 against the proposed uniforms. But parents in both the high school and middle school voted in favor of uniforms, with 212 yes votes and 185 no votes, according to Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides post on his Facebook page.

The Central Regional Board of Education will vote on the issue at the board meeting tonight, which gets underway at 7 p.m. in the board meeting room at the high school.

Parents who have students in the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School in Seaside Heights - now part of the Central Regional district - voted overwhelmingly in favor of uniforms, 115 in favor and 15 against, according to the poll.

The move would take pressure off both students and parents and would enhance school security at the 98-acre campus off Forest Hills Parkway, Parlapanides has said.

"We are a 98-acre ranch...with lots of entrances," he told the Township Council during a presentation earlier this year. "If everyone is in uniform, we know who everybody is."

Switching to uniforms would put also put all students on an even basis and lessen the economic burden for parents, he has said.

Students got their first peek at the proposed uniforms earlier this month. Shirts are long and short sleevesn garnet, grey and black. Pants, skirts and shorts are khaki or black, with a garnet sweater or sweatshirt. Shoes will be some type of black dress shoe, Parlapanides has said.