Maybe she cancelled the prom out of bitterness because she couldn't FIND a man date.

@jkatze

I agree, every incoming freshman class students should be told this, and retell them every year.

The only other choice, is ban the non graduating kids, and let the graduating kids have their prom. I can't see how you can make, using peer pressure and all, graduate if they don't want to.

But to just tell them now, no way is that fair to the good students who will graduate. They are not their brothers keepers.

And on the other hand, if she starts that program with the new incoming freshman class this fall, then HELL YES lady, go for it. Then maybe, just maybe, over the four years, the stupid ones will leave school.

This "Bronx Principle" is apparently living in a dream World.

Maybe a better "vow" would be: "I will not get paid until every senior in my school meets ALL the requirements for graduation."

Over !!!

You people who side with the students have no idea what kind of lazy, academically-challenged, self-centered nincompoops this prinipal has to deal with every day. She probably said, enough! Why should we have a prom to celebrate ignornace and stupidity?

So are you saying the only reason they went to school is for prom? That's absurd! It's time students as well as their parents be held responsible for their actions -- they are on the TAXPAYER dime, and if you want to make sure they don't leave school and fall on the taxpayer funded freebies they should get the education with the end result of a diploma. I applaud this principal!

The reporter neglected to answer some questions, the most important of what is the dance title: historically it is the Senior Prom.

In this case appears the prom is to be a Senior Prom which is a social get-together. It is often missed by older students as their personal choice. This article seems to be unaware of that fact.

So I request clarification. Is the requirement of completing the senior year for all seniors? or relative only to those who want to go to the Senior Prom? (Which makes sense you know.) If the latter, I agree with Administration, though it appears that no one thought to ask, and perhaps Administration has not made that clear.

Attending a social get-together, including a very formal school dance called a Senior Prom is a form of reward funded by the school district... or at least the ones I know of.

It seems to me, then, that it is a dance for seniors... at least the proms I went to were (only two, in fact, high school and college B.A. Could have gone by invitation while I attended the same school for my graduate degree, but sent a "thank you, but have a conflict that night" response.

Think about it. In my day LOL ... it was always called the Senior Prom. It's not a social event for lower grade-levels or drop-outs. Therefore, it seems to me that the Administration is right in her intent, although possibly awkward in her phraseology.

Finally, the host is the School District, which therefore pays the expense, which would be part of the budget paid by administration. An appropriate count of attenders is automatic.

In return, the kids have to earn it... a senior celebration for... yes, unequivocally, the seniors.

Not only the author of the article seemed to miss that, but some of the assumptions made by many comments seem unaware of that also.

Annie,

This woman has a 90% graduation rate. She can't have too many lazy, academically-challenged, self-centered nincompoops. She should not be punishing the successful students with those who are not. But then, maybe it would be OK with you if you were punished for something someone else did or failed to do.

In response to Annie...The article states that the school is already on track for a 90% graduation rate. If 10% are lazy, academically-challenged, self-centered nincompoops, then they alone should be denied the prom. The other 90% who have worked to graduate high school on time certainly should be allowed a prom to celebrate.

This would be a great time for someone who was bullied by the pretty people to screw everyone over by flunking out.

How can people support this insanity? Do people here understand that her rule is the opposite of earning it? People with 4 years of straight A's didn't earn it? She would deny them a prom because OTHER students didn't try.

Even telling freshman would be wrong, as it would only serve to create more pressure between students. Poor students would be the prime target of bullying, hardly a great motivational tool.

Can you imagine if your boss denied you a raise because your co-worker was a lazy idiot?

If my department didn't meet our production numbers, then nobody in the department gets a raise because our budgets would be cut or eliminated.

It's about teaching kids how to work together for a goal. The ones that are excelling will encourage and help the ones that are lagging behind.

Yet another stupid and asinine attempt at mass punishment.

I mean really, come on. The kids are not allowed to do the dumb kids homework to get him/her to make them pass, they are not allowed to bully or shame the dumb arse who does not care into making them try and graduate.

So all they are basically saying is Mind your own business and then suffer for lesser peoples failings. Just plain stupid but, that is the American 'educational' system of 2013 so what should we expect???

I don't understand the backlash against the principal. Prom is a high school "perk," not a right. Socially speaking, the students are in the best position to motivate their peers to graduate, and if the seniors are still in school at this point, they have a good chance if they can just complete the home stretch. If the "good" kids miss out on prom, it won't be the end of the world. But for those who are struggling, the difference between graduating and not is a grave one. I applaud both her priorities and creativity.

I think I figured out the problem. We are not "seniors" until we have completed the course work. Then, and only then, are we seniors when we finish and pass the course.

Personally I believe that whoever wrote the article may not have been graduated from high school. Being in a senior program doesn't make us a senior until we have finished (i.e. passed) the program that makes us a senior.

Now this "10%" is an absurdity. Either you completed the program (and that means PASSED it) or you didn't.

If the Administrator is that illogical she, hmm, must have flunked administration. And btw... when we read of 100% of Seniors attending the prom... that proves my point. That means they are real live cotton-pickin' seniors.

And btw... when the Senior Prom has it's date, it is, of course, scheduled for a week-end when the teachers know who have passed the course and who have not. And that is usually the last week of the term.

At that point, if the teacher doesn't know that by then, then they, like that administrator, should be released, too. Both of them should ... go back to school! To learn their jobs!

If anything in high school, such as the prom, is s high point of your life, your life post-high school probably sucks.

Do you know how many screwed up kids there are in high school who would fail to graduate just to make sure there was no prom for the other kids? The principal is acting like she knows nothing about motivating teens. Alvarez became Principal in 2011. Someone else with a dream built the excellent reputation of this school, and she was just the PC-hire replacement. How quickly it will fall...

@Dotties girl

It's time students as well as their parents be held responsible for their actions

I agree. Students should be held responsible for their actions. They should not be held responsible for the actions (or inaction) of their peers. How about the bank take away your home because your neighbor failed to pay their mortgage? How about your boss fires you because your coworker keeps showing up late? It's not about prom; its about this mentality that you should punish a group of people for the acts of one.

In theory she is on the right track as to how schools need to encourage academics over the fun events. On the other hand though, zero tolerance doesn't work anywhere. Who's to say there isn't one kid who is willing to screw everyone else?

I don't mind the premise of actually holding kids to a standard, I actually don't know why the country really doesn't anymore, but 100% participation? It is tough to punish 99% of the people if one person doesn't care.

Seriously though, who doesn't pass every kid now-a-days anyhow? My state does.

BeckyAnnn- I am punished everyday for others voting for Obama and Bush before him.

Sounds like the progressive mentality.... Bring those who suceed down to the level of those who fail, rather than try to elevate those who fail!

"Progressive" has nothing to do with it. I remember a grammar school teacher - who was hardly "progressive" - keeping an entire class after school because no one in it would or could tell her who threw a spit ball at her. I remember another teacher abruptly ending a 3rd grade Valentine's Day party because some poor kid didn't follow instructions when filling out a Valentine's card. People of all stripes have this mentality.

Oh - another memory - an employee of the MBTA in Boston, Mass. in the 1960's, telling passengers in a crowded subway car that he wasn't going to let the train go until he found out which one of them kept holding open the door.

I Hardly see the analogy here in keeping all the kids punished for a few that can't/won't graduate. The idea that the other students are somehow responsible for the slackers and should be punished is just wrong. Now if it were something like an act of vandalism and the students knew who did it but would not come forward then maybe it would be justified.

STLMIke...."Sounds like the progressive mentality.... Bring those who suceed down to the level of those who fail, rather than try to elevate those who fail!."

Yep, trickle down attitude from the White House.

My God! There were schools in NYC that had a 100% graduation rate last year? Those schools should be immediately investigated and the perpetrators held to task. This is clearly unfair to the other more than 400 public high schools there.

another bunch of liberal BS. What do you think happens in REAL LIFE loser, your employer isn't going to let you keep your job or give you raises without PERFORMANCE. Unless it's a private school the education is supplied by the TAXPAYER. So if they want to screw around fine -- but they should accept the consequences. Although I think the fair thing to do would be to let ONLY the graduates go to prom and those that don't graduate can stand on the sidelines and think about WHY they are there. Stop making excuses for poor performance!

I guess very few of you who are so outraged never attended a school which had a Senior Prom, huh.

-- SecondSight1 -- Looks like another English teacher failed..

ed peters Perhaps it's you who "petered out"??? ROFL

No, if they were "smart" they'd concentrate on graduating.

if they had concerned parents they would all be graduating. The problem is some parents abdicate their parental responsibility so they raise irresponsible children. What happens when they go to work, don't like their boss or don't get the raise they want run home to mommy and daddy to handle. Welcome to the real world or REAL adults.

90% graduation rate at this school. What's your school graduation rate Dottie girl? Bet it's nowhere as close.

Students that succeed should not be punished for idiots that don't.

@Pete

Just like the lap dogs who have to bring politic's into this. It's not a liberal, nor is it a conservative, it's a frigging educator who is trying, the wrong way, to get kids to acheive something in their young lives.

She should have started this four years ago, and then nobody could blame her for banning the prom. Except the poochies of the lap dogs who post here.

lol hypocrite much SallyAnn?

ust like the lap dogs who have to bring politic's into this. It's not a liberal, nor is it a conservative, it's a frigging educator who is trying, the wrong way, to get kids to acheive something in their young lives.

VERY NEXT SENTENCE

Except the poochies of the lap dogs who post here.

Some cultures have "working hard" and "taking school seriously" as cultural icons. (They're going to beat the pants off us in the 21st century if we keep lionizing social events instead.)

Are you seriously comparing canceling prom to the Holocaust?

Yes tjstyles, that is what he was trying to do. What do you expect from the low informed lap dogs of the GOP base? They make everything political, even when it isn't political.

Oh please Sally, spare us your sanctimonious liberal vomit. You and your ilk politicize anything and everything.

wolfe426

This principle should be fired

PrinciPAL

SallyAnn-4595694

Yes tjstyles, that is what he was trying to do. What do you expect from the low informed lap dogs of the GOP base? They make everything political, even when it isn't political.

Kinda of stupid there SallyAnn, "not political" and "what do you expect from GOP Lapdog" that shows your ignorance and bias. Although he was trying to compare the Holocaust to loosing prom, that sort of sounds like as 'Occupy' person 'thinking'

I skipped my prom and went to work instead, so I really couldn't care less about the Prom. And, I agree with you that education should come first in schools.

However, I do not like the idea of punishing everyone for the acts of a few. What if the government said, "If one more person gets into an accident on the freeway, we're banning cars"? This stance never solves anything. So one kid fails to graduate and everyone misses prom? Who wins? How about this principal identify the kids that are struggling to graduate and focus her efforts on getting those kids the resources they need to succeed, like tutors or something?

This is happening now with guns. A few people broke the law so we outlaw them all. But that's totally different...

No it's not, it's exactly the same.

guns, housing, food, welfare, education...it's exactly the same. Take away from those that try to work hard to get ahead, and give to those lazy, stupid, lawbreakers.

We see it on the headlines everyday at this site.

I went to my prom, I didn't really care about it, but it was another accomplishment in my senior year leading up to graduation. Taking away that, which the student pays for by the way, for other students behavior is reprehensible. Why work hard, if your going to have things taken away because or for someone else's choices? Something to ponder.

Angela, Brad was using sarcasm there, just so you know. That is why he ended with "...". He was implying that they are the same, and I agree. I just didn't want to turn this into a political thing. I am against all of those types of regulations. Don't take my rights away because other people cannot control themselves. Don't punish me for the acts of others.

I have to stand up for these kids and their prom because where does it end? Is her next step to suspend all kids when one of them smokes a cigarette in the bathroom? Will she expel all of the students if one of them swears at a teacher? I know someone will say, "Your examples are ridiculous, nobody would ever do that". I think banning prom for everyone if a few students don't graduate is ridiculous. I would think that nobody would do that.

I'm not, because it's the truth. Sorry if you fail to understand that.

As to the rest, I agree, but sadly, I don't think she's is being sarcastic or 'not going to do that'. Because she is...

Excellent Idea!!!

Article says average graduation rate is 66% - that's 34% not graduating...not 66%.

Ah, 66% is the graduation rate for the city. That means city-wide, 66% of the students graduate, not fail to graduate. She is already 24% above the average, and it is great that she should push for 100%, that is what she gets paid for, but her methods are wrong.

What does this teach the 90% of the kids doing what they are supposed to? Try hard so you can be punished with all the rest? Great message. All it takes is one kid who doesn't care about prom enough to try hard and everyone gets penalized. And, if they don't care enough to graduate high school, why is prom going to magically light a fire in them?

And, while I think it is good when you get positive peer pressure, I don't think it is the job of students to motivate other students. I think it is a detriment if students feel they need to put their own educations on the back burner to try and make sure that other students hit the bare minimum. That is the job of the teachers and the school administration; literally, that is why we pay them their salaries. It would be like asking the patients in a hospital to monitor each other so the doctors and nurses could worry about other things. It's backwards. Each student should be focusing on their own education. The teachers should be focused on making sure that all of the students get educated.

post 6.1

SallyAnn-4595694

Just like the lap dogs who have to bring politic's into this. It's not a liberal, nor is it a conservative, it's a frigging educator who is trying, the wrong way, to get kids to acheive something in their young lives.

#15.3

SallyAnn-4595694

This is a typical reaction from the GOP lap dogs. They hate the idea that most children will graduate and possible continue on to college. The GOP and the lap dogs want people to be uneducated so they can be brain washed.

Listen to Fox and gay Rush, they preach to the uneducated, low informed base everyday. Those lap dogs very seldom have a original idea by themselves. They are spoon fed everything.

Who is the hypocrite again?

PARTY DRONES, of either party, have traded in their ability to think for parrotting slogans.

They are all boooooorrrrrrring.

Sally Ann this has NOTHING to do with politics. It has to do with a principal that is punishing all students for the acts of 10% of their classmates.

Sally Ann why do you have to involve politics. This about students graduating. I just have one question, Is everything about politics to you, or are you just trying to get people arguing with you? Either way your some kind of nut. oh yeah, I got your lap dog.

Actually, Sally Ann, I'm a registered Republican. My mother and sister both work in the school district here in Des Moines. I whole-heartedly support quality education. My point here is that a principal is getting results, and "we the people" still bash her for something as un-important as Prom!

And VLM, thanks, I typed one thing, thought another, and my mind apparently had a nifty little disconnect. I think my point still made it across, but woops! :-)

And kids should be focused on their own education, tjsytles, but you have to have the student body there to help. I have little doubt the teachers are doing as much as they can, and are also trying to engage the students to help students. There's likely always going to be a bit of "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". Again, I hope it's an empty threat. I hope the principal "lightens up" and allows any graduating to go, but those that are not graduating banned from prom.

And, the students still have a right to complain about the administration punishing them for other peoples' actions. We still have a right to disagree with the principal for punishing the whole school for the actions of a few (keep in mind, we are talking 10% of the senior class; it is likely less than 4% of the school's population).

If the principal said that only students that were on track to graduate would be allowed to attend prom, I would be on board with that. If she said that she was cancelling prom to spend the money on educational materials, I would even be on board with that. But, I am not on board with her saying 90+% of the student body will be penalized for the actions of less than 10% of the student body. There is no scenario in which I feel that is justified.

@tjstyles

I agree. There is no excuse for her doing this now. She needs to present that scenario to the incoming freshman class, and every year it is repeated to the whole school.

That way, with 4 yrs of peer pressure, I would think they could hit the 100% mark, and if so, good job. But the correct way is to make sure all graduating students can go, and the non graduating CANNOT go. If they can't graduate, why should they enjoy the spoils that hard work would have gotten them?

You really think that punishing good students that are graduating and doing what they are supposed to is going to affect the "dumb deadweights"? If I don't care enough to get my grades high enough to graduate, I am not going to give a rat's ass if someone else doesn't get to go to prom. How in the world is this punishment going to yield any positive results?

You want to get the "dumb deadweights" to change, then you need to do something that affects them. Get them the tools to succeed or punish them. Punishing other people is not going to lead to a solution.

Guess what tj, that's the way it is. I 100% agree that my daughter shouldn't be held down by the kids who don't know or don't care, but that's the way it IS, until we change that well I don't need to repeat myself again.

Yes, but by then, they know who is graduating and who isn't. Just ban the non graduating students from the prom. How damn hard is that to do? It would be a good lesson for the students behind them to learn from.