Letter to the editor: prom and schedules

Letter To the Editor:
With respect of all who are involved in prom and post-prom planning, we want to apologize for this information seemingly not being known until now.  We feel that it is necessary that the correct information, and not rumor, be published since this has now become a public issue. We have created a Q & A to help others understand our thought process during a meeting that was held at the school in September, 2010. As you read this, we hope you will notice the amount of thought that had been put into the decision made last September to keep prom on May 14th, 2011.

Q: Who scheduled prom?
A: May 10th, 2010 the event coordinator at the Rochester Athletic Club (RAC) called a co-chair of post-prom asking if K-M was going to have prom the second weekend in May of 2011. Please note that events such as this must be scheduled and the sites booked a year in advance. The co-chair called the school and asked for the date of K-M’s prom in 2011 and was told it was May 14th. Since the prom date had already been set by the school, the RAC was then reserved for KM for that same day, May 14th, 2011. Of note, K-M’s prom/post-prom date was set in May of 2010, four months prior to the HVL conference track date being set. After the annual HVL meeting held in September, it was brought to our attention by a track parent that the conference track meet and K-M’s prom were on the same day. Also of note, this year is the second year the HVL conference track meet is scheduled as a one day event on a Saturday. Last year, 2010, the HVL conference track meet was held on the third Saturday in May, the 15th. 2011’s date was scheduled and approved at the Annual HVL meeting in September of 2010.

Q: When did K-M start doing a post-prom party?
A: In 1987, post-prom was started by a group of community members led by Janice Borgstrom-Durst. For the past several years it has been held at the RAC. Students have been surveyed to see if they wanted to have post prom at a different location and the answer has always been overwhelmingly “no”. Since then, the importance of having prom and post-prom together, for the safety of our students, has been a priority.

Q: When did prom 2011 become an issue?
A: In September, numerous emails were sent out amongst parents stating their concerns that the HVL conference meet was the same day as KM’s prom. This was brought to our attention and the decision was made to promptly hold a meeting to see what the options were. As this information got out, we were also approached by parents of other student athletes who were concerned that prom would be changed at the request of one sport when that hadn’t been done in the past. The meeting was held in September with members of prom committee, post-prom committee and school leadership. The idea of changing the date was debated.

The limitations were:
·$500 non-refundable deposit
·The location of prom and post-prom were set
·The DJ was already scheduled
·Other available dates for post-prom at the RAC were April 2nd and 9th and May 28th.

1. May 28th was considered to be too late in the school year, may conflict with state events for many sports and it was too close to the end of school and graduation.
2. The dates in April were a concern because of Easter involvement in future years (RAC is not available Easter weekend). The April dates that were available for the post prom party at the RAC were not available at any of the locations to hold the prom dance.
3. The post prom committee offered to not have a post-prom party this year so prom could be moved to any other date that a place was available. Because of student feedback from past years and for the safety of our students, it was felt having a post-prom party was important.
4. Last year the first weekend in April was an ice storm and prom likely would have been canceled had it been scheduled that weekend in 2010. Some people have said it is no big deal if it is a little colder in April, we have also had just as many students say they would not want prom that early.
· Section speech, Solo and Ensemble Regional Music Contest (affected a large numbers of students), State High School League Art Contest and Show in Rochester (has been a conflict every year except last year), State High School Congressional Art Show and Contest (students have come in their prom dress/tux to pick up their awards.), softball, baseball and track have all had events scheduled on prom in the past and the prom date has never been changed. How do you prioritize when prom should and shouldn’t be changed? Should we base it on the number of students it affects? Should we base it on the importance of the event (section vs conference vs state). So out of fairness to all students, we decided it was best to leave as is.

Q: Why not hold prom at the School?
A: The cost of lowering the ceilings and decorating the school is more expensive than holding prom at a rented site and the funds are just not there. Also, volunteers to make an event happen at the school do not match the manpower needed.

Q: Has there ever been other requests to change the date of prom?
A: Yes, area businesses have approached the school and asked for the date to be changed to a day other than Mother’s Day weekend (traditionally the second weekend in May) because it is one of their busiest weekends and student employees were not available to work because of prom. So a group of eight plus parents went to the REC Center and YMCA and discovered they are not large enough to accommodate the number of KM students and their guests, although we are very happy to have that problem! Other considerations were the fire hall or the school but the event would have been more expensive to decorate and rent games and activities than to have it at the RAC.  For the same considerations as above, it was felt the second weekend in May still was best for all KM students. Another important point of discussion was that the community support of prom and post-prom is absolutely necessary and how could we decide that a sport is more important than a local business request?

Q: How many kids attended prom and post-prom in 2010?
A: Approximately 276 students attended prom and 240 attended post-prom. There are approximately 40 track participants for 2011 so we felt there were still 140 KM junior and senior students (does not include guests) that we needed to be considerate of.

Q: Will the HVL conference track meet always be the second weekend in May?
A: We discussed this at length at the September meeting and it was brought to our attention that the change to an all day Saturday event may not even work and that there may not even be an HVL conference in the upcoming years as things may be restructured. So the future of the HVL conference track meet on the 2nd Saturday of May is unknown. Since this issue has resurfaced in the past couple of weeks, an email had been sent to the HVL coordinator who responded that it is set for this year only and the 2012 date will be discussed at the annual HVL planning meeting in September of 2011, and a proposal can/will be made for the track meet not to be the 2nd weekend in May 2012. Only one year is set, it is not set for the next nine years!

Q: Can’t the tradition of having prom on the second weekend of May be changed?
A:  The tradition is not the date of prom but having a prom and post-prom together. This is important not only for the safety of our students but having it at the RAC is their request and after all, isn’t this about the students? By all means, yes, changing the date can be considered.  But because of the above information, we do not feel it is possible to change the 2011 prom date.

Q: What did the group who met in September do to assure no track participant would miss the prom events?
Answer:
1. The K-M Athletic Director went to an HVL meeting and explained the K-M prom dilemma and asked to have the track meet start one hour earlier. This was unanimously supported.
2. We discussed the fact that track participants who want to attend prom can leave the track meet (held in Hayfield) after their track event is over.
3. Possibly a bus could bring track students back or they could ride back with parents.
4. The Grand March will be held later in the evening to allow the track participants to be involved.
5. Allowing those in track to enter the dance beyond the lock down time if necessary.
6. Those who choose to participate in extracurricular activities are always at risk of experiencing conflicts. We discussed that not everyone would have the entire day to have their hair, make up and nails done but feel the importance of prom is as the meaning states in the dictionary, “A student formal dance in celebration of graduation”. All of this conflict is taking away from the purpose that prom should serve: one last chance to all be together before the seniors graduate. Every student will have the chance to participate in prom.
   
Other thoughts:
·More and more schools are choosing the RAC to have post-prom parties because there is more to offer and it is less expensive. Of note, the school who uses the RAC on a certain date is offered that same date the following year. The second weekend in May is reserved for KM until we give it up! 
·If K-M prom is held in early April and it falls on Easter (which will happen again in 2015 and would have happened in 2010 ), we would not have the RAC available which then could potentially mean we do not have a date “reserved” the following year to host post-prom. Again, students are saying they want a post-prom and they want it at the RAC.

We want to thank Janice Borgstrom-Durst for being the founder of K-M’s post prom party and her support and request to be included in this letter.  Janice was contacted and was made aware of the facts above and said she wished she would have had those facts prior to submitting her letter to the editor in the DCI on 1/26/11.

We can assure you; none of us were intentionally trying to discriminate against any track athletes but were trying to make the best decisions for the KM student body as a whole. For those students who have to decide, either this year or in future years, between spending all day getting ready for prom or participating in their sport, as parents, we can help them learn how to evaluate and prioritize choices. This will be a life skill as it is very likely this won’t be the last difficult decision they will have to make in their lives.

Most importantly, we want to thank the support of our community for the funds and gifts donated and for supporting our past Fiesta Dinners, this year’s dinner will be held on March 20th. Please save the date and we hope to see you there!

Addendum: Since this all resurfaced again in the last couple of weeks, all of the work that was done back in September was looked at again, calls were made and the limitations of time and the reasons previously listed in the above letter still hold true, therefore, 2011 prom/post-prom will remain on May 14th, 2011. Let’s please be respectful of everyone’s effort in this matter.

Respectfully submitted, KM prom, post-prom and School Leadership
Cindy Nelson       
Lisa Mundy