Posted on 10/17/2005 7:21:55 AM PDT by Millee
Brother Kenneth Hoagland had heard all the stories about prom-night debauchery at his Long Island high school: students putting down $10,000 to rent a party house in the Hamptons; pre-prom cocktail parties followed by a trip to the dance in a liquor-loaded limo; fathers chartering a boat for their children's late-night "booze cruise."
Enough was enough, Hoagland said. So the principal of Kellenberg Memorial High School canceled the spring prom in a 2,000- word letter to parents.
"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is, rather, the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake - in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects."
"Each year, it gets worse - becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he added. "We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. (The school) is willing to sponsor a prom but not an orgy."
The move brought a mixed, albeit passionate, reaction from students and parents at the Roman Catholic school, which is owned by the Society of Mary (Marianists), a religious order of priests and brothers.
"I don't think it's fair, obviously, that they canceled prom," said senior Alyssa Johnson of Westbury. "There are problems with the prom, but I don't think their reasons or the actions they took solved anything."
Hoagland began talking about the future of the prom last spring after 46 Kellenberg seniors made a $10,000 down payment on a $20,000 rental in the Hamptons for a post-prom party. When school officials found out, they forced the students to cancel the deal; the kids got their money back, and the prom went on as planned. But some parents went ahead and rented a Hamptons house anyway, Hoagland said.
Amy Best, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at George Mason University in Virginia and the author of "Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture," said this is the first time she has heard of a school canceling the prom for such reasons.
"A lot of people have lamented the growing consumption that surrounds the prom," she said, noting it is not uncommon for students to pay $1,000 on the dance and surrounding costs: expensive dresses, tuxedo rentals, flowers, limousines, pre- and post-prom parties.
Edward Lawson, the father of a Kellenberg senior, said he and other parents are discussing whether to organize a prom without the sponsorship of the 2,500- student school.
"I don't think they have a right to judge what goes on after the prom," he said. "They put everybody in the category of drinkers and drug addicts."
Some parents picking up their children on a recent afternoon said they support Hoagland.
"The school has excellent values," said Margaret Cameron of Plainview, N.Y. "We send our children here because we support the values and the administration of the school, and I totally back everything they do."
I graduated in 1988. 8 girls from my school got pregnant on prom weekend.
There's something about drugs, drinking, orgy and prom together that make this one interesting thread, to say the least. :0)
thank you very much. i can then safely presume that you don't find a problem with teenagers boozing/drugging/and having sex en massse?
whos' the jerk?
"We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. (The school) is willing to sponsor a prom but not an orgy."
Juevos grandes, amigo. Ole.
"(The school) is willing to sponsor a prom but not an orgy."
That pretty much sums it up.
These kids have a fine career with the Minnesota Vikings waiting for them. Don't forget you life jackets!.........
Ditto
I never went to Prom. Never went to Homecoming.
Did do the Debutante ball though, my girlfriends social parents woulda died had she missed that
I was a freak....things were different than and we got away with more.....adults had yet to catch on.
I loathed Preppies...now I like like an aging one..lol.
oh well.....
I don't blame the school
"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is, rather, the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake - in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects."
Read it again, this time in context.
I did, in context as you suggested and it seems that the behavior may be a reason, but it is not the primary reason, for his cancellation. the expenditure is.
Reread the whole article. He is not willing to sponsor an orgy. He is calling it what it is. An expensive orgy.
On contraire young one. It solved the problem of the school being a willing partner in this debauchery.
It seems to me like he found the sex/booze/drugs technically wrong, but he was willing to tolerate that. Kids will be kids, after all.
It was the display of wealth that horrified him. That always seems to be the breaking point for the class warfare crowd, then they backtrack and tack on the other grievances just too look less petty.
There are two letters on their website (pdf files), one sent before their spring prom this year and this latest one. After reading what the seniors had planned for the May prom (which apparently occurred, I can very well see why they cancelled the prom this year
Brother Kenneth is a brave man. Good for him! He's right. The parents are the problem...not the solution.
God bless you, Brother Ken!
Sounds like it was a Catholic school. They were correct to take the moral high ground and let all of the blame and responsibility fall upon the parents who filled their minor children with illegal alcohol and (unchaperoned?) rooms. Do many hotels permit minors to stay without a guardian in the group?
And the material wealth that was celebrated. Just why were they sending their kids to a religious school? Certainly there are secular private schools they could have sought out.
IT removed their association with your debauchery.. and good for them. You want to act like a classless whore, that's your business... but your expectation that they aid you in your and your friends actions and put their seal of approval on it shows that aparently Catholic Education has failed you in the morality department.
"I don't think they have a right to judge what goes on after the prom," he said. "They put everybody in the category of drinkers and drug addicts."
No son, you don't think PERIOD.
"The school has excellent values," said Margaret Cameron of Plainview, N.Y. "We send our children here because we support the values and the administration of the school, and I totally back everything they do."
Well at least there are some parents with some sense of kids at that school.
We have a prominent all male Catholic High School here that is top notch in education and football... and when it was found out that some of the team engaged in sexually harrassing and abusing a player, and that others who knew about it said nothing... the School immediately cancelled the remainder of the season... of course the parents all screamed it wasn't fair, and so did the students.. after all little johnny might not get his scholarship if he doesn't play... forget the fact little Johnny committed an insufferable sin and laughed with his buddies about it.
KUdos for the school for standing up for what's right, now they need to start expelling kids they know are over the line in their behaviors and not just cancelling prom.
Affluence is certainly not next to Godliness.
thank you.
I also have a feeling that the reporter highlighted the lurid aspects of the story.
The sex and drugs are allegations. The excessive expenditures were proven.
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