by Shannon Gentry, Stevensville
I’m writing this letter to address an issue with certain individuals within the administration at Stevensville High School. My daughter is a sophomore in high school. She is homeschooled. A friend of hers who is a student at Stevensville High School asked her to prom. I made an inquiry at the school and a member of the staff told me “we allow home school students to go to extracurricular activities. You will just need to write a note giving permission for your daughter to attend.”
I wrote the letter and thanked the staff. My daughter’s friend bought the tickets. My daughter bought a new dress, new shoes, new hairdo. Both students were excited to go to prom. No problem. Well, not quite. Well, not at all. The principal left a voice message saying he “couldn’t sign off on my daughter attending prom.” Another member of the district administration further stated that the staff person who told me about the policy relating to home school students “was just being nice.”
The law is clear about this situation. Once a representative of the school said it was okay for my daughter to go to prom that became binding on the school. It is capricious and arbitrary for the principal to say he “can’t sign off on this.” It is the right of every student to ask anyone to their prom. Unless the principal wants to make an assertion of a “clear and present danger” as a result of 16-year-old girl’s attendance at a high school dance, my daughter and her friend should be allowed to attend prom.
My daughter is heartbroken. I’m upset. All because the principal couldn’t guarantee the safety of a 16-year-old at the dance. It’s wrong and should be changed.
Our family are true Montanans, we don’t sue people over stuff like this. We talk it over. One of the problems with this situation is that the principal didn’t discuss it with us – he just preemptively made the decision. That’s neither fair or just. The truly sad thing is that if this could happen to my daughter, it easily could happen to yours.
Helen Sabin says
Shannon – I totally agree with you but suggest you go to the next school board if you do NOT want to sue the school. I would and make the school board set a policy on this issue. Talk to Tony Hudson on the board and see if he can have a “talk” with the principal. I don’t think he would agree to this action by the principal.
At a minimum, the cost of the ticket, the clothing and hair prep for the dance should be refunded out of the principal’s pocket for not training his staff as to the procedure for when students other than those at the school want to attend events at the school. That is a poor principal!