Dance policy isn’t anything new at Washington Park High School, but this doesn’t stop students from complaining about them. There are two different policies: one for Homecoming and Winter Formal and one for Prom.

The policy for Winter Formal and homecoming start about a month before the prospective dance is going to take place, while the prom policy goes all year. The rules for Homecoming and Winter formal state that a student must not have any suspensions, no truancies, no more then three tardies, and all fines and fees must be paid. Prom policy is too stringent requiring students to have no more than 10 tardies and 10 truancies and no more than two suspensions for the whole year.

Students believe that the prom dance policy is too strict and should change. According to a recent survey, students felt that the start of the policy should be later in the school year. If the prom dance policy could start closer to the date of the dance then more students would be able to attend.

Prom could give students something to look forward to at the end of the year and a policy that starts later would allow students to learn from their mistakes and change their behaviors.