And Then There Was A Dance

Homecooming Dance 2014. Regardless of any set of words and phrases the conclusions, stories, tales of horror and frustration will continue.  Somewhere in the middle of the emotions, excuses, tall tales and excitement there are events and truths.

For the past two years the efforts to present a responsible and respectful event for students resulted in reduced ticket sales, alternate non-school events, expensive losses for Student Council and numerous explanations.  The bottom line was that fewer students attended dances.  That is not a good or bad statement,

Ticket sales were for two weeks at lunch.  A normal process.  There were several days of after school sales.  The first few days the sales were slow as is normal.  The usual for students is to wait and see who is coming, who will get asked, or what are the other options.   And then someone created a huge marketing move and decided that the world was attending and there would never be sufficient tickets or space.

History suggests that fewer than half of our students attend dances.  There are many reasons for that.  This appears to be true in our surrounding high schools as well.  Some schools restrict attendance to certain grades or some other criteria.  Large public spaces are expensive and the cost of tickets continued to rise.  Yes, we received those emails expressing concern about that as well.

The ticket price was greatly reduced and a more reasonably priced smaller venue was selected.  And for whatever reason, the tickets became popular this past week and the run started.  It was not the stampede we have seen at the opening of a Target Center Concert.  There have not been reports of blood and broken bones.  As a result of our student leaders attempting to be responsible, we now have an outcry of pain and suffering.

I know of no perfect system for dealing with the whims and wishes of otherwise brilliant teenagers.   We do not hire Ticket Master to deal with tickets and resale.  We offer a reasonable fun opportunity, try to keep prices low, write down the ticket number and student ID and name and then go over rules and expectations.  Over the years we have wonderful parent volunteers who support and assist with dances and events.

I can assure you that we do not sit around and plot how to make life miserable for kids andfamilies.   We regret misunderstandings and misinformation.  This is all "extra" and is supposedto be a fun student activity.   For the vast majority of the students and families that is fulfilled.  For those students and families who have expressed numerous reasons for not having a ticket, we are sorry.  

Are there lessons to be learned?  The answer is always a yes.  We need to make sure it is extremely obvious from the first announcement of the dance that there are limits.  We need to make sure that the sales process is clear and known by students.  Students and families need to make decisions earlier in the process.  Students can't wait until the last minute to decide to do something.

I encourage any student or family member who has a great idea or is willing to volunteer to step forward.  We do not claim to be dance promoters and producers.  We do not control the venues or have endless pockets of money.  Our goal is to promote learning and a quality education.  We promote and support student leadership.  We and our students and our families are not perfect and make mistakes and continue to learn and try to improve.  This does not resolve every single issue raised in various emails. I am hopeful that those who are vocal volunteer to make the next dance a success in their eyes.  We welcome your support.