High School’s Bold Decision to Outlaw School Dances
Photo by Paramount Pictures
It’s a real-life Footloose at one Massachusetts high school, where earlier this week the principal announced a ban on school dances.Hopkinton High School is the latest in a series of schools to take these measures in reaction to the popularity of moves like twerking and other “dirty” dancing.
Hopkinton principal Evan Bishop sent a letter to parents on Wednesday, explaining that dances have been canceled indefinitely because “student behavior, particularly the sexual nature of the dancing, is becoming increasingly inappropriate, despite repeated warnings and redirection from the chaperones.”
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The letter continues: “We have had many students come forward to report they do not feel comfortable at the dances because of the nature of the dancing. To us, this is unacceptable and we will not allow this to continue without trying to improve the environment. … we have determined at this point that the correct decision is to discontinue the dances held at the high school unless and until we can restore the environment to one where all students feel safe and comfortable.”
In his letter, Bishop says the school will hold forums with students to discuss solutions that could bring dances back and encourages student suggestions for improving the dances. The school holds three or four dances a year but the ban does not include Junior Prom, which is held at a different venue and, according to the letter, “has not been of significant concern in the past.”
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Principal Bishop and officials at Hopkinton High School declined Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment.
Local parents are divided on the new school policy. Lynne Auslander, mother to a freshman girl and sophomore boy and co-vice president of the high school PTA board, says that while she feels badly for the students, she supports Bishop’s decision. “The kids need to feel comfortable,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “I’m hoping the students can offer suggestions to fix this so they can have their dances.”
Auslander says she has heard from both parents and students that dancing of a sexual nature was taking place at the dances, and she knows students had been warned. “I know dances are fun, so I feel badly for the kids,” she says. “But they’ve been told so many times not to do these things, at some point you have to say, ‘ok, you’re not listening, now we’re going to take more serious measures.’”
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But Allison Murphy, a mom who is an active school council member in the district (while her son is a freshman at a private school, her 11-year-old and 7-year-old are in the public school system), says the elimination of dances was too drastic, and too quick.
“We need to help create solutions for children and not just eliminate things,” Murphy tells Yahoo Parenting. “I understand it’s not educators’ jobs to police school dances, but I think it’s preposterous to eliminate school dances at the district level, because students will go around the system. These events will happen underground, unsupervised, and then we’ll have bigger problems.”
Murphy says the administration is doing the kids a disservice by not teaching them to behave in a public space. “It should be on the leadership of the school or the town to come up with solutions. Instead of cutting this social event out entirely, there should have been a step saying ‘this is becoming a problem, let’s figure out a way to make it better,” she says. “Instead, kids who attend the dances and enjoy them are being punished. I feel passionately about the fact that we need to stop taking things away from children and instead empower them to do better.”
Many of Murphy’s son’s friends attend Hopkinton High School, and she said she’s heard from them that they’re upset about the canceled dances. “Most of his peers think it’s ridiculous and that they jumped the gun,” she says. “I heard in the past that there was a lot of ‘grinding,’ but I’ve never been around any of my son’s peers who thought it was a threat.”
Some students told the MetroWest Daily News that they were unfazed by the school’s decision. “We don’t really care,” sophomore Ryan Branch said.
Last year, a high school in Port Angeles, Washington, banned “dirty dancing” on school grounds, and the students boycotted school dances in protest, according to KOMO 4 TV. In October, a high school in Moline, Illinois, imposed a no-grinding policy for their Homecoming dance. In response, the students organized an “anti-homecoming” at a local club.
Two high schools in Maryland came up with a different solution when twerking became a sensation last year. Students and parents had to sign contracts that prohibited “freaking, grinding or any other dancing that can be construed as vulgar or provocative – including twerking,” before being allowed to enter the school dance.
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