The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Spring prom in jeopardy after Allegany principal cancels dance
Calhoun says students ignored warnings to stop dirty dancing

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Dec. 29 -- Allegany High School seniors could be on their own for spring prom if the principal of Allegany High School makes good on a threat the dance is in jeopardy.

Mike Calhoun announced last week his administration had warned students, and the student government organization, about staff's concerns regarding alleged dirty dancing at the annual Homecoming dance in late October.

But Emily Hedrick, senior class president, told The Potomac Highlands Dispatch that seniors might take the decision out of school officials' hands and stage their own spring formal - forgoing some $2,000 in the account at school dedicated for just that event.

The issue arose at Allegany in October 2009. In the next 12 months, a new countywide policy was instituted that prohibited "grinding" and students creating circles around other students while on the dance floor. The policy was approved in February, Hedrick said.

"I guess I can understand their position," Hedrick said of the administration's perspective that the type of dancing is overly provocative and inappropriate - often seemingly imitating sexual acts. "Really, it's not doing anything. It's not hurting anybody. Nothing really sexual is happening. It's just the way people dance now ... But everybody freaks out about it."

Hedrick said she attended spring formals at all three of the county's public high schools last year. They were all the same, Hedrick said, and she admitted the kind of dancing was "kind of bad."

"This year, Mountain Ridge was really good," Hedrick said. "At Allegany, it was barely anything. And at Fort Hill, it was way worse."

There has been virtually no opportunity to talk with Calhoun since last week's announcement, Hedrick said. First came a weekend, then winter break. But Hedrick said the senior class advisor told students the administration wasn't going to budge.

"A compromise for prom," Hedrick responded to a question. "It seems like the administration's going to say no."

Class officers convened last week to discuss the issue and how they might stage their own prom outside of school jurisdiction. The students would need to find a location and ensure they have liability insurance, among many other factors, Hedrick said.

"If the administration were to say (they) overreacted, then having one at school would be much easier," Hedrick said.

That doesn't seem likely, given Hedrick's and others' perceptions that teachers don't want to volunteer to serve as advisors for various after-school functions.

"That just came off to us (as) nobody at the school wants to go out of their way to do anything," she said. "So, they really don't care if we have a prom or not."