Principal Jodi Lax is so accustomed to seeing the students at Lowell Elementary School in their crisp uniforms that when the downtown San Jose campus has an occasional "free dress day" — where the kids can wear outfits of their own choosing — "it looks chaotic to me."

Lax thinks requiring students to wear uniforms — a practice once limited to parochial and private institutions but now embraced by many public schools in Silicon Valley — is a big plus.

"Not only do the kids look sharp, but it helps create a more organized setting," Lax says. "It allows the kids to focus on school." And not on outside influences like the latest trendy fashions. Or on gangs, which are an issue in the Lowell neighborhood.

The dress code at Lowell — similar to others in the San Jose Unified School District — calls for navy blue trousers or shorts and white or green polo shirts. No baggy, saggy pants. No short-shorts. No sports team apparel. And definitely nothing that's gang-affiliated.

"Gang colors present a safety issue," Lax says. "This takes care of that."

Lax says the policy is strict, "but we don't get too fussy. Sometimes the kids are wearing what they've got."

"What they've got" has expanded exponentially in the years since the all-volunteer, nonprofit San Jose Assistance League started what it calls "Operation School Bell." The program, launched in 1994, provides free spanking-new uniforms to children from low-income families.

"We started small and it has grown," says Karen Bode, the chair of the program. "There's such a need."

Volunteers from the Assistance League of San Jose get ready to measure students for uniforms at Carson Elementary School.

(Pauline Lubens / Mercury News)

The league buys the uniforms in bulk and stashes the stacks of shirts and pants representing a range of sizes in a rented storage unit in San Jose. Schools are asked to compile lists of students whose families would find the cost of purchasing uniforms a burden.

That's when the volunteers go to work, fanning out to the schools to measure the kids and having them try on samples. Then, it's back to the storage unit, where bags are prepared for each child, with two pairs of pants and two shirts for each. The uniforms are delivered to the school the same day and distributed by teachers and administrators. At some schools, the league donates clothing in a range of sizes to help stock a uniform closet.

"The children are excited and proud to wear their own brand-new uniforms," says league member Barbara Nobler, a veteran of many of these measuring sessions. "In many instances, this will be their only new clothes for the year."

For parent Dinora Nieves, Operation School Bell is "heaven-sent." Her son Saul, 7, who attends Lowell, received free uniforms through the program.

"It's great for parents who don't have much," says Nieves through a translator, Lowell school secretary Veronica Alvarado. "It's phenomenal that people do this for kids in our school. It's been a great help, one less thing to worry about."

Saul, who is in the second grade, stands ramrod-straight in his navy slacks, his spotless white polo buttoned right up to the top. He says it makes him "happy" to wear his uniform.

The Assistance League would love to bring that happy feeling to a lot more kids by expanding Operation School Bell. Wish Book readers can help. Each donation of $25 will purchase two pairs of pants and two polo shirts for one child.

And league past president Judi Dissly is hoping for a little happy feeling, too. She would love to see someone come forward to help out with the $6,000 a year the organization pays to rent the unit where the uniforms are stored. She figures that's money that could be better spent outfitting kids like Saul. Each donation of $50 would help with the rent.