All CMS students must wear khakis and polo shirts? Here’s what CMS says about the memo.

If you saw a memo from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Clayton Wilcox saying all students will be required to wear school uniforms next year, you might have wondered how you missed the discussion of that major policy change.

The answer: There was no such discussion, no vote by the school board and no plans to institute such a policy. The memo, which began circulating on social media recently, is “absolutely not true and not from CMS,” Chief Communications Officer Tracy Russ said Tuesday.

“Someone is forging CMS messaging and I don’t know why,” he added.

A reader sent a copy to the Observer after seeing it on a Facebook page called “Charlotte Area Liberal Moms,” a closed group with 627 members. Russ said a couple of parents also sent him copies asking what’s going on.

It appears to be on CMS letterhead and carries the typed name of Wilcox, although without a date or signature. It says the board recently voted on a countywide school uniform policy requiring all students to wear a polo shirt and khaki pants, skirts or shorts starting in 2019-20.

The false memo says the policy is designed to “help alleviate issues such as bullying, clothing costs, and exclusion.”

In fact, there has been no board discussion or vote, and there are no administrative plans to launch such a policy, Russ said. “A super big fake story,” he noted.