February 5, 2010
by Susie Pender
This Monday, Horace Greeley High School Principal Andrew Selesnick sent an email to Greeley students and parents outlining the new procedures put in place for this weekend’s Valentine’s Day dance. “The Student Council and the Administrators met together to decide on a set of parameters that we believe should allow us to hold the Valentine’s Day dance scheduled for February 6th, at 8:00 p.m. in our gym, in a manner that is safe and enjoyable for all students,” he explained in the letter.
He made a special effort to mention, “I’m pleased to note that the majority of these suggestions were made by the students, who truly want to continue having dances at Greeley. I’m proud of their willingness to think through a difficult issue and to make compromise when necessary.”
The seven parameters are as follows:
1. Tickets will only be sold in advance of the dance and the number of tickets will be limited to 700.
2. Parents must sign permission slips in order for their children to buy tickets, and as students enter the door of the dance they will be asked for a form that indicates who drove them, who will pick them up, and that provides contact information.
3. No students will be allowed to drive to the dance. All students, even seniors, must be driven by an adult.
4. The lighting in the gym will be increased in order to improve visibility and our ability to supervise, though we will still make an effort to provide an appropriate dance atmosphere.
5. Police presence will be increased, and specifically, police will help us to check all students into the dance.
6. The number of parent chaperones will increase.
7. Our town’s youth officer will speak to all students, during school, prior to the dance, to review the legal implications (for students and parents) of underage drinking. We hope to send out to parents a brief synopsis of his conversation.
A follow-up to this letter contained the permission slip to buy tickets and the transportation form.
The full text of both communications is printed below, with live links to the forms necessary to attend the dance.
February 1, 2010
Dear Greeley Students and Parents,
As you are probably aware, since our last dance (at Homecoming), we have been debating whether or not we could continue to hold dances at Greeley, in light of troubling student behavior around the use of alcohol and possibly other drugs prior to, following, and possibly during the dances themselves.
We have challenged our students to demonstrate better decision making at all school events since then. We have invited the community into conversations, and most recently, two of our student organizations hosted a powerful speaker in a school-wide assembly.
In addition, the Student Council and Administration met together to decide on a set of parameters that we believe should allow us to hold the Valentine’s Day dance scheduled for February 6th, at 8 pm in our gym, in a manner that is safe and enjoyable for all students.
Those parameters are as follows:
* Tickets will only be sold in advance of the dance and the number of tickets will be limited to 700.
* Parents must sign permission slips in order for their children to buy tickets, and as students enter the door of the dance they will be asked for a form that indicates who drove them, who will pick them up, and that provides contact information.
* No students will be allowed to drive to the dance. All students, even seniors, must be driven by an adult.
* The lighting in the gym will be increased in order to improve visibility and our ability to supervise, though we will still make an effort to provide an appropriate dance atmosphere.
* Police presence will be increased, and specifically, police will help us to check all students into the dance.
* The number of parent chaperones will increase.
* Our town’s youth officer will speak to all students, during school, prior to the dance, to review the legal implications (for students and parents) of underage drinking. We hope to send out to parents a brief synopsis of his conversation.
I’m pleased to note that the majority of these suggestions were made by the students, who truly want to continue having dances at Greeley. I’m proud of their willingness to think through a difficult issue and to make compromise when necessary. Of course, we will continue to do everything we can to insure the safety of all students, and we will continue to use each and every school event (including this dance) to judge the pros and cons of holding social events at school. Many community members have made it clear that they want to see social events continue at Greeley, and we want to continue hosting them, but safety will always come first. We encourage students and parents to talk to each other about the dance and about plans for before and after the dance, well in advance of the day itself. We are looking forward to February 6th and hope you will join us in making it a night we can all celebrate.
Sincerely,
Andrew Selesnick, Principal
February 2, 2010
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Below are the links to the two documents students will need to fill out in order to attend this Saturday’s Valentine’s Day Dance. The documents are as follows:
1) Permission Slip: this form must be filled out, signed by both student and parent, and turned in to purchase a ticket for the dance. Tickets will be on sale during school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the cafeteria. Please note that no tickets will be sold at the door on the night of the dance.
http://hg.ccsd.ws/files/174907/Valentine%27s%20Day%20Dance%20Permission%20Slip.pdf
2) Transportation Form: this form must be filled out and turned in on Saturday in order to gain admission to the dance. The form must clearly indicate how the student arrived at the dance and how he/she plans on getting back home. Please note that the end time of the dance is 11:00, so we ask for students to arrange to be picked up by then. We will be contacting parents of any student who is not picked up in a timely fashion.
http://hg.ccsd.ws/files/174907/Transportation%20Slip.pdf
These documents can also be accessed on the front page of the school’s website.
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