If there was something the schools could do to improve your child’s safety and it wasn’t being done, most parents would probably be hopping mad.

And if that “something” could reduce your child’s chances of being harassed, beaten or falling into the wrong crowd and save you money at the same time, the odds are parents would demand to know why it isn’t being done.

But the truth is that it is the parents and not the schools that are the roadblock.

That “something” is school uniforms.

Manteca Unified has a policy that allows parents to petition for a particular campus to consider imposing them. Basically the final decision is left to a survey of the parents after it is requested by one or more individuals. Lathrop Elementary School went through the exercise early this school year after several parents requested that school uniforms be considered. Parents overall basically said “no.”

Too bad they didn’t have a chance to hear gang officers talk about how the color of clothes can not only trigger fights but get innocent kids drawn into it for simply wearing clothes of the wrong shade. If you think this is just an inner city thing, guess again. It happens all the time.

Police officers are still amazed at parents’ reactions when they are told kids as young as fourth grade are harassed for the colors they wear or that gang colors are being worn by kids on purpose even before they hit puberty.

Federal data shows that 13.9 percent of all public schools in this country have school uniforms.

Not all schools that opted to switch to uniforms do so due to gang concerns. Some do it for modesty concerns, others do it so kids don’t try to one up each other or apply peer pressure through the styles of clothes they wear. Still others do it over the concern of costs for individual families.

Manteca Unified is right to reserve the school uniform option as being one that a school community should instigate and not school officials. There needs to be substantial buy-in.

That doesn’t mean the district can’t get a little bit more high profile with their policy and make more parents aware that it exists and why it exists.

Manteca Unified wouldn’t have such an option on the books for parents to activate if they didn’t believe there weren’t advantages to doing so. And those advantages range from safety to keeping “fashion” under control.

It wasn’t too many years ago that Manteca Unified - after receiving pressure from parents - pulled the plug on what were essentially out-of-control eighth grade graduation trappings that included dozens of limos being rented to ferry kids to and from ceremonies plus toning down the fashion splash that was proving extremely costly.

It is one advantage of caps and gowns.

Lathrop School has taken it one step further and has its “advancement” ceremony during the school day.

It helps put everything in perspective and keeps the costs down for finally hard-pressed families.

Yes, it is important for kids to express themselves as individuals. But clothing isn’t the end-all litmus test of individuality.

You shouldn’t forget that the kids that are the most effective at expressing themselves with clothes are gang members. If certain colors are barred they’ll just find another way to openly display their allegiance to a gang whether it is shoelaces or a belt. By essentially advocating the ability to express oneself in school you are essentially giving life in subtle ways for the proliferation of gangs that can put your child at risk.

Just something to think about.