Project Citizen — March 31, 2007

Click here for slides and solutions from October 14, 2006

Below are transcripts of the identified problems, possible solutions, and action plans prepared by attendees of the March 31st Project Citizen training.

Team One: School Uniforms Position Statement: Certain types of clothing promote violence and bullying in schools. Kids are wearing gang colors and symbols to school. Girls are dressing provocatively. Children are divided by socio-economic status. This is a very serious problem because the school setting is becoming more violent in recent years. Student self-esteem is being lowered which leads to drug use, violence, and depression. This problem is nationwide. But our focus is on Clark County Schools (CCSD). School uniforms should be regulated by CCSD for the following reasons: Parents who do not agree with uniform policy at one school would try to relocate their children to another school. Having a district-wide policy would cut down costs because the district could buy in bulk or barter with a company. The dress code policy for Clark County School District is not uniform; it varies by school. It is not helping to solve the school violence and bullying issues. Some could argue that student freedom of expression and individual school choice is limited. Some could also argue that the cost is too much. Another possible solution would be to have school police on every campus in Clark County. An advantage to this would be to deter the effects of school violence or bullying such as fights, shootings, and stabbings. Some disadvantages would be: This does not address the causes of violence and bullying; it just addresses the effects of these actions. Having police on campus would be very expensive. Students would feel unsafe because they would be surrounded by police. They may think lesson their schools. Implementing a stricter dress code could also be a solution. Students could still have a limited freedom of expression. A limited dress code would cut down on promiscuous clothing and gang colors and symols. A major disadvantage would be that a limited dress code would not solve all of the problems of violence and bullying. Individual school could be able to regulate their own uniform policy. The principals of the schools could decide if they wanted to have uniforms or not. An advantage to this would be that schools would be allowed to make their own individual choices. A major disadvantage to this solution would be that parents would move their children to schools that allow students to dress how they would like. The policy that is the most beneficial to directly solve the problem of school violence and bullying is to implement school uniforms district-wide. The advantages would be that school-wide bullying and violence would be dramatically reduced. The cost of school uniforms can be reduced through buying in bulk or bartering with a company. Another advantage would be that the entire Clark County School District would be uniform. Every school in the county would have the same uniforms. Some disadvantages to this policy would be limited freedom of expression for students. The cost for families could be great; the school district would have to use a grant to supplement the costs of buying the uniforms.

Team Two: Driving While Talking on Cell Phones Problem Statement Cell phone use while operating a vehicle Possible Solutions Solution One: Hands free phone use Pros: Complete concentration of eyes and hands on driving Cons: Cost of purchasing new phone equipment and people still talking on phone while driving Solution Two: Complete discontinuation of cell phone use while driving Pros: Total concentration while driving Cons: People have become too dependent on cell phones and law would be difficult to enforce Solution Three: Age Restriction for use of cell phone while driving Pros: Total concentration while driving and maturity level Cons: Limits teenagers helping parents and communicating with parent Proposed Policy Hands free phone use Action Plan Implement bill at state and local level