Students may soon see changes at RB’s school dances. The administration is currently considering different policies to crack down on inappropriate dancing, such as grinding and jukeing. In one of these new policies, students would be given a wristband when they arrive at a school dance; if they were seen exhibiting inappropriate behavior, a chaperone would mark their wristband. If a chaperone had to speak to them again, they would have to leave the dance.
Administration is considering this policy because they have noticed a problem with student behavior at school dances.
“It’s become a large problem,” said Assistant Principal John Passarella. “It’s only a small group of kids doing it, but we still need a way to fix it. This type of dancing might be appropriate at other venues, but it’s not appropriate for a school.”
RB got the idea for this initiative when they heard of other area high schools doing similar programs. According to Passarella, these high schools have seen a great improvement of student conduct at school dances, where only a very small number of students, if any, were asked to leave the dance.
Before administration makes a decision on this new policy, they plan to get feedback from students. Passarella plans to meet with members of the Student Association to get a better understanding of how students feel about this issue. Administration does not necessarily expect this policy to be controversial among students, because it is a minority of students who participate in inappropriate dancing. In fact, Passarella claims that many students have already asked the school to try to limit inappropriate dancing.
If the school does decide to adapt this policy, it would not take effect until Homecoming 2013.
“We’re trying to implement this policy slowly. We want to get feedback from students and give them time to adjust. This will not take place at this year’s prom. I haven’t really seen a problem at prom, it’s just at Homecoming,” said Passarella.
The overall goal of this new policy is to make all students feel more comfortable at school dances. Passarella also sees this as an opportunity to teach students about how to exhibit good character, such as being more respectful to their dates.
“I think students will feel more comfortable at school dances without this inappropriate dancing. When I see students doing this, I ask them, ‘Would you do this if your date’s mother was here?’ I’ve never had a kid say yes to that. Kids are great at dances. Most don’t cause any problems, and there are other ways to dance,” said Passarella.
