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The school is under no obligation to hold extra-curricular events. If the parents aren't backing up the administration (and this appears to be just the latest incident), then stick to educating the kids and let the parents host the parties.
Yes, some kids will always be undeserved victims in cases like this, but I still think the school is doing the right thing to protect themselves AND the kids being failed by their parents.
Exactly, my high school was so bad in extra-curricular dances or anything. There was no dances and no homecoming pep-rallies. It was just senior dinner (when supleratives were given out,) junior banquet (because there's only one prom) and prom. For the high school I work at, there's pep-rallies quarterly for the different sports, honor roll assemblies, homecoming parade (my high school just did the floats during the halftime) and regular dances. While maybe I wouldn't have gone (I didn't do many Homecomings due to scouts as well as junior banquet (a student (whom I didn't like) said I should have drank that night...)) I would have liked to have the option.
As for this case, what is wrong canceling it? If the school has an issue with discipline, the principal can do things they see that is as needed to handle a situation, even at the innocent party's detriment.
...When students are at school or school functions the school serves as in loco parentis. It is up to the school to single out the individuals, deal with their behavior according to their rules and then deal with the parents.
True. But as in loco parentis, the school needs to assure that they can fully supervise activities, and if conditions indicate they cannot, canceling or postponing the activities is appropriate.
The parents have been running/handling Grad Night for 30+ years now and it has worked out well.
So what?
North Korea has never bombed us with nukes. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
Just because something has always gone well doesn't mean it will always go well. Particularly in a time of increased alcohol and drug availability, particularly to middle class neighborhoods where the kids can better afford it.
1. It is illegal to provide details on the arrest or punishment of students. So you have no idea if that happened.
2. It is also not legal to expel/transfer a student for a first time or any discipline infraction that does not threaten or harm others. It deprives them of their right to an education, which outweighs anyones desire to go to a dance.
Interesting you bring up loco parentis. Loco parentis does not require you to be "fair" as you are defining it, the same way parenting itself does not. If you had 10 kids and some were being rowdy playing in the yard, you are not obligated to figure out which ones were being loud and which were not before sending them all inside or to their rooms.
And once more, the school is under ZERO obligation to provide extracurricular activities. If the student body (and there is a reason that term is singular) makes it too difficult to safely provide those events, it is completely appropriate to do away with them. These things happen all the time in real life. If parades or events get too nutty, they don't hold them again. If a concert venue has a few too many drunk idiots running around after the event, they can be closed down. And so on and so on.
Yes, you are correct about the confidentiality aspect of all student disciplinary (and other) records.
No, regarding not being legal to expel or transfer a student for a first time disciplinary infraction that does not threaten or harm others...at least in Virginia. We didn't expel often, but there were times we did for no tolerance rules, particularly related to drugs.
You are also correct about in loco parentis. In fact, what some posters don't understand is that this issue being discussed is not so much about punishing everyone as it is about the one question we would always ask ourselves as educators when a special activity was being proposed -- can we reasonably assure a safe environment. And there were situations we had to stop doing when the answer was clearly that we couldn't assure a safe environment.
Completely support her decision, and I wish other school administrators would show the spine that she is displaying right now.
It's laudable, considering how football is worshiped in so many places.
Elsewhere they would have just swept it under the rug... and built a new stadium at the cost of tens of millions of dollars...
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)) I would have liked to have the option.
