Citing it as “necessary to ensure preservation of the public welfare in general,” D.C. Public Schools passed an emergency rule to the D.C. Register yesterday, revoking “personal determination of appearance, including styles of hair and dress” as a First Amendment-protected right for students. Chancellor Michelle Rhee also posted a revision to the current discipline code, which would — supposedly — lay down much harsher punishments for students who disregard current rules concerning clothing.

One can argue until blue in the face about DCPS’ legal ability to dictate a system-wide dress code (the First Amendment Center features a very readable primer on the history of such challenges to uniforms and school censorship, for those interested) — but this action simply opens the door for individual principals to make such decisions about their own individual schools, instead of calling for a blanket application of a uniform code.

Of course, the common sense behind the idea is that school uniforms help to stifle violence related to material possessions and reduce the proliferation of gang colors and clothing. Whether that’s a legitimate empirical conclusion is far from clear. The District saw a similar push for a universal dress code helmed by then-Mayor Marion Barry in the 1980s — you’d have a tough time finding anyone who thought that those reforms were a sweeping success. Also, Rhee’s new “tougher” discipline code leaves much to be desired: an in-school suspension on the fourth offense seems, well, pretty spineless.

What’s your take? Will uniforms in some D.C. schools help to curb student violence and crime, or is it just another stop-gap solution to a complicated problem?