Homecoming Dance Restrictions Cause Strong Reaction from Student Body

In an effort to ensure all students feel safe and comfortable, as well as to uphold a positive reputation for the school, all students attending the homecoming dance on Oct. 1 will be held to specific dance standards, which are more heavily enforced this year than in the previous years.

This conversation is not a new one. Enforcing standards such as: not engaging in sexually explicit dancing, wearing appropriate apparel and no reentry has been talked about before.

“It has been talked about in administration and StuCo, we decided to table it last year and hold off until we got all the information together to get a form together,” StuCo sponsor Jani Wilkens said. “Mrs. Parks, Mr. Downs and I adapted a form from the Fort Zumwalt District.”

The contract is not new; the information is already in the student handbook. Administration and StuCo wanted students and parents more aware of the rules and consequences, such as getting removed from the dance without a refund.

“The students think it is stupid, unnecessary and not needed,” Junior Anna Wiley said.

Assistant Principal Jeff Blankenship is working to try to help students like Wiley understand the reason for this policy.

“It has been an ongoing process trying to improve student understanding,” Blankenship said. “We heard some students are unhappy, but some want to feel more comfortable.”

Though the communicated rules have caused quite a buzz among the student body, Wilkens feels that the impact will likely be a positive one at the dance.

“I think the most direct impact on the dance policy will be that the students realize that their teachers and administrators care about them as people and that FHN has integrity about how we act and behave,” Wilkens said.