Parents must be kept in loop on dress code Woodbridge Middle School: Where Character Counts. So goes the motto, but what kind of character counts? Principal and role model Mr. James Sullivan, mentor to hundreds of students at WMS, engineered a fairly standard feat of clandestine public policy formation beginning last October when he first quietly presented the "standardized dress code" proposal to the PTO executive board - as you are no doubt aware, the executive board meeting is not a general PTO meeting to which all parents are invited. In last November's school newsletter, theWoodbridgeMiddle School Explorer, under the headline "Parent Standardized School Dress Code Survey," it was reported that: "At the October PTO Executive Board meeting, Mr. Sullivan raised the issue of implementing a standardized dress code for all students attendingWMS. If theWMS community of parents and guardians, students, and faculty can reach a consensus on this subject, the standardized dress code would be implemented at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year. To bring about a common understanding of standardized dress for students, the faculty of WMS completed a survey to gauge their opinion on this issue at their October 10th meeting. Students will be surveyed on Friday, November 2nd. Parents and guardians are asked to review the enclosed letter and complete the Parent Standardized School Dress Code Survey."For most, that was the last they heard about the proposed uniform dress code. How many parents knew that from October to April this policy was actively pursued by Mr. Sullivan and a committee of 18, who held closed-door meetings, made unpublicized decisions, and developed and delivered presentations on March 12 and April 24 to the Woodbridge Township school board? Does Mr. Sullivan plus 18 parents equal consensus, when- as I understand it - the majority of students, and two teachers signed a petition against the dress code, and parental opinion mattered only if the principal allowed it to? Even with a public Web site, schoolyard marquee, and implementation of the Honeywell Alert system last December, parents were neither made aware of meetings on the issue nor privy to data comprising the presentations made to the board. Only yesterday was this information presented as set-in-stone policy to the fifth grade (and only the fifth grade) students at Mawbey Street and Ross Street schools. Why the secrecy? What's the rush?I am not blindly opposed to school uniforms; I am, however, opposed to the establishment of this uniformpolicy, and the way in which it was contrived. Taxpayersmust have a voice in public school policy changes; parents deserve the respect of being kept in the loop when such initiatives are being considered. Mr. Sullivan's presentation to the board was totally out of order - presented on behalf of all with a consensus of one. Rose T. Sullivan Woodbridge