Awww, the memory of prom...
If you are like most people, you secured a date months in advance (even if it was your relationship-deficient friend you promised to go with freshman year or the courtesy cousin date) and began debating matching color schemes.
In addition, you worked a crappy job to cover the costs of tickets, tuxes, gowns, corsages, dinner and pictures for your future children to laugh at when you reminisce on your youth.
After getting dressed on the day of prom, you joined friends at someone’s home where parents took group photos before everyone crowded into a rented limousine-and was dropped off three doors down in front of a neighbor’s house.
Maybe this is not exactly how some people recall senior prom, but it could be the memory of many area high school students.
But with the recent announcement of a new prom date policy, local high school students are considering hosting their own prom celebrations.
“People are talking about throwing their own prom and there are parents willing to rent facilities to accommodate this,” LCHS senior Jeremy Fermin said.
But according to the Panther drum major, LCHS students are hoping to work with school administrators, especially LCHS principal Paula Scott, to lift the new “date ban” before resorting to drastic measures.
Unfortunately, students said, Scott has been slow to give only vague responses to multiple attempts by students - and teachers aligned with students - to have an open discussion about what led to the creation of the policy.
“I know many students and teachers who have gone to talk to her and have come back with no clear answer,” LCHS senior Byron Miller said. “I myself have set an appointment with her and have heard nothing.”
Both students, who served on the LCHS prom committee last year, said there were no student complaints about the former prom date policy, but Scott reportedly said she met with a group of students who wanted the new changes.
Miller said he has not found “one person who agrees with her.”
“Not one single student that we are aware of is fond of this situation,” he said.
Through meetings with other friends and classmates, Fermin and Miller said the new rule has done nothing but create problems for students who have already selected dates.
“We had a meeting with junior class officers, senior class officers and some Young Adult Liberty Leaders and at a table of eight people, 10 had a conflict with the rule,” he said.
He noted the timing of the announcement further fuels students’ anger about the rule.
“We’ve waited 12 years for our senior prom. They could have announced this the first week of school for next year so people would know in advance,” Fermin said. “But you know what, you don’t spring something on us two months in advance when people have their tuxes and dresses already picked out.”
For now, the seniors are hoping a petition circulating around the campus will influence Scott to reverse her decision, along with BI’s principal, Dr. Vicki Albritton.
But thoughts of the alternative are not far from their minds.
“We’re definitely exploring the option,” Fermin said. “But, I want to have prom with my friends and my stuff. And if you have 10 different groups of parents running 10 different facilities, it’s going to be all scattered.”
“But worse-case scenario,” Miller interjected, “we’ll go to the extreme and make our own prom.”
If you are like most people, you secured a date months in advance (even if it was your relationship-deficient friend you promised to go with freshman year or the courtesy cousin date) and began debating matching color schemes.
In addition, you worked a crappy job to cover the costs of tickets, tuxes, gowns, corsages, dinner and pictures for your future children to laugh at when you reminisce on your youth.
After getting dressed on the day of prom, you joined friends at someone’s home where parents took group photos before everyone crowded into a rented limousine-and was dropped off three doors down in front of a neighbor’s house.
Maybe this is not exactly how some people recall senior prom, but it could be the memory of many area high school students.
But with the recent announcement of a new prom date policy, local high school students are considering hosting their own prom celebrations.
“People are talking about throwing their own prom and there are parents willing to rent facilities to accommodate this,” LCHS senior Jeremy Fermin said.
But according to the Panther drum major, LCHS students are hoping to work with school administrators, especially LCHS principal Paula Scott, to lift the new “date ban” before resorting to drastic measures.
Unfortunately, students said, Scott has been slow to give only vague responses to multiple attempts by students - and teachers aligned with students - to have an open discussion about what led to the creation of the policy.
“I know many students and teachers who have gone to talk to her and have come back with no clear answer,” LCHS senior Byron Miller said. “I myself have set an appointment with her and have heard nothing.”
Both students, who served on the LCHS prom committee last year, said there were no student complaints about the former prom date policy, but Scott reportedly said she met with a group of students who wanted the new changes.
Miller said he has not found “one person who agrees with her.”
“Not one single student that we are aware of is fond of this situation,” he said.
Through meetings with other friends and classmates, Fermin and Miller said the new rule has done nothing but create problems for students who have already selected dates.
“We had a meeting with junior class officers, senior class officers and some Young Adult Liberty Leaders and at a table of eight people, 10 had a conflict with the rule,” he said.
He noted the timing of the announcement further fuels students’ anger about the rule.
“We’ve waited 12 years for our senior prom. They could have announced this the first week of school for next year so people would know in advance,” Fermin said. “But you know what, you don’t spring something on us two months in advance when people have their tuxes and dresses already picked out.”
For now, the seniors are hoping a petition circulating around the campus will influence Scott to reverse her decision, along with BI’s principal, Dr. Vicki Albritton.
But thoughts of the alternative are not far from their minds.
“We’re definitely exploring the option,” Fermin said. “But, I want to have prom with my friends and my stuff. And if you have 10 different groups of parents running 10 different facilities, it’s going to be all scattered.”
“But worse-case scenario,” Miller interjected, “we’ll go to the extreme and make our own prom.”