The Montclair Board of Education intends to review the scheduling of Montclair High School prom dates to try to avoid future conflicts. Officials say too many student athletes have to make a choice between being with their teammates and playing their sport or joining other classmates and attending one of the landmark events of their teenaged years.
Board President John Carlton told Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez to review the scheduling process and have recommendations ready for the seven-member board to review by the time it returns from its summer hiatus in September.
Carlton was responding to pleas from a number of parents representing the booster clubs for Montclair High School’s spring sports, including baseball, girls softball, and boys and girls lacrosse. The parents came to the board’s public meeting Monday to argue for a solution to what have become vexing scheduling conflicts.
Parents explained that the current scheduling for both the junior and senior proms, which took place in May of this year, conflicted with pivotal regular-season or state-playoff games.
"Can we do something? Absolutely," said Alvarez, "I thing we can rethink it. I think we can try to move the dates. We’ll do our best."
Both Carlton and board member Ron Riddick asked the sports booster parents on which days of the week and which weeks in the spring are less likely to conflict with the spring sports schedule. Their informal surveys indicated that Wednesdays and Thursdays in April and June would probably pose the fewest conflicts.
During its June 2 meeting, the board tabled a vote that would have locked in dates for the MHS junior and senior proms for 2009 and 2010 with Mayfair Farms in West Orange. In discussing the resolution, board member Shirley Grill asked whether the concept of the prom should be rethought.
Fellow board member Shelly Lombard expressed concern about the number of high school athletes who are either forced to pass up the prom or must adhere to early evening curfews if they do attend due to state playoff games in their sports on the same day or the following day.
With the success of the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence’s "Dancin in the Streets" fundraiser on May 30, which drew a crowd of more than 900 and grossed $305,000, Grill asked if the students might prefer to stage a different kind of event.
Alvarez said his review of the scheduling might also provide an opportunity for students, parents and faculty to discuss whether the proms’ current format needs to be changed. In recent months a number of parents have suggested that the junior prom be discontinued. Other have argued the proms should be dropped entirely.
The suggestions have prompted a lively debate among students on the MHS campus.
"I thought junior prom was fun, but I wouldn't mind and I don't think most people would either if the school stopped doing it," said MHS senior Alex Mutter. "Honestly, I don't know why they would get rid of senior prom, it’s a pretty dumb idea. Not everyone goes to it, but it’s a big tradition and it’s the last thing you do besides graduation with your class."
"I wouldn't care about the junior prom," said MHS senior Molly Rosenak. " But Montclair is trying too hard to be different from everyone else. Prom is a tradition. It’s the one thing our class does together and it would be weird without it."
Proms have come under greater scrutiny by local communities and school officials across the country in recent years after a series of incidents involving prom goers who were caught up in underage drinking, as well as serious automobile accidents that followed in its wake.
High school proms in this country date back to the early 1900s. Proms began as simple affairs providing teens an opportunity to attend their first formal event. But in recent decades, proms have evolved into lavish spectacles staged in hotel ballrooms, with some teens clad in expensive designer garb arriving in gaudy stretch limousines.
District officials were stung by an incident at Montclair High School’s junior prom, which led to charges against seven teens. Police said school officials and security personnel found bottles of liquor either in the possession of the teens, in their bags or in the limousine bringing them to their Junior Prom.
Eamon Stewart contributed to this article.
