May 09 2009
Footloose?
A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.
Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School’s prom Saturday.
Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school’s rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.
The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an “incomplete” on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.
Frost’s stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school’s rules should not apply outside the classroom.
Read more here.
[From me]
Somehow I picture Kevin Bacon going before the school board. But even if you don’t like the rules–they are the rules of that school. The boy and the family agreed to them before they paid to go there. If he doesn’t like them then he should have gone to another Christian school or to a public school.
What do you think?
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Principal Tim England should NOT have signed the form that Tyler Frost brought to him, if he objects THAT much to “dancing”, “hand-holding” etc.
Heck, it could quite possibly be argued that England, as principal, violated his own school’s policies by signing the form allowing Frost to engage in such activity.
And so far as “the rules” go: wasn’t one of the biggest charges that the Pharisees brought against Jesus was that He was healing on the Sabbath, in violation of “the rules”?
This “Christian” school has no grasp at all of why Christ came to us to begin with: to FREE us from legalism! This principal is being as legalist as all get out.
When I was in college we had an issue about long hair and sideburns (yes, it was that long ago). I refused to sign the petition to have it changed because I agreed to the school’s policies before I went. I think it is the same thing here. I do believe this is legalism but the school’s policy is the school’s policy and he and his parents agreed to it. I think the policy is stupid but I fear I have to side with the school on this one.
bill (cycleguy)’s last blog post..Fireproof-2
I believe it was Danny Akin who calls this situation “a matter of integrity.” If you agreed to abide by their rules, stick to it. Otherwise quit the school.
Chris Knight is right about the principal. He should never have signed the form. Now it is a public matter and he should publicly admit the mistake. Sounds like he didn’t do his homework (maybe the dog ate it!).
I don’t know the reasons for Frost attending the school, but he knew the expectations and regulations. I speculate that the learning that goes on at Findlay isn’t quite the same as at Heritage and he chose academics over less regulation. Neither situation turns out to be perfect, so we are subjected to futility from both sides. Make your best decision and move on.
Bill
The problem I have with this kind of mess is that I have experienced it.
It’s usually a matter of fine print.
My college alma mater has a huge problem of this nature, in that you can’t attend without agreeing to obey all their rules, but they do a terrible job of disclosing those rules. Many are unwritten.
The rule in this case might have been written, but it was probably still very unclear.
Yes, integrity is important, but I maintain that the school has absolutely no right to control what the student does ANYWHERE except school property or when at a school sponsored event. Churches, Christian schools, and Christians in general have a huge problem in that we want all the rights to be OURS and nobody else’s.
Since the school is endangering education that it is the legal right of the student to receive based on a rule that the school doesn’t have a legal right to enact or enforce, I believe that the school is in the wrong.
I also would like to know whether the school’s “rules” that the student supposedly agreed to actually specifically include “attending a prom at another school.” My bet is that they do not, but that this is a warped application of the physical contact and alcohol rules.
Christian schools aren’t winning the culture war by doing this.
Bernard Shuford’s last blog post..I gotta…
I don’t like the rules. But I wouldn’t send my kids there. If you agree to the rules then you have to abide by them.
whatever man…. The school is being stupid and needs to be i recovery.
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Kevin – just curious, are you responding to my comment, or to someone else? If you’re responding to me, you’re missing my point entirely. (Which seems to happen a lot when I comment here, so it’s probably my fault, I understand.)
Attending a dance is not the same as dancing, just like going to church doesn’t make one a Christian. If the rules do not expressly forbid ATTENDING a dance, the school is in the wrong. Period. If the student was given the rules AFTER he agreed to abide by them, his parents are unwise but the school is STILL in the wrong. If the rules are so unclear as to require interpretation by the school board to determine whether it was okay for the principal to threaten suspension, the school is in the wrong. Period. As well, if it is not explicitly clear IN THE WRITTEN RULES that the student agreed to that the rules apply to off-campus, non-school hour activities, the school is IN THE WRONG. (Assuming that this is not a boarding school, which it does not appear to be.)
Most of these schools do not have lawyers write their rule book. Thus, their rule book is FULL of holes and allowances for interpretation. When the principal signed the student’s form to go to the prom, he implicitly gave the student permission to do so, regardless of any pre-existing agreement, which is most likely highly flawed and would never withstand legal examination. Contracts, in order to be legally binding, must meet some very specific standards, even if they are verbal. A contract, for instance, cannot violate a person’s civil or constitutional rights. A person cannot be illegally coerced to sign a legal contract. In other words, the contract may be legally okay, but if I force you to sign it at gunpoint or under some false pretense, the contract is void. If, perhaps, the child signed the “contract” under pressure from his parents, there are issues with that. If the signature was performed privately, it is possible that the child never read the rule book NOR actually signed the agreement.
Was the student given ample time to study the rule book and ask questions before he was given instruction to sign it? Was, perhaps, the rule book given at a separate time to the “admission form” which contains a small clause about “applying to this school indicates your agreement to abide by all our rules”? Is the school accredited in any fashion and thus required to pursue due course for failing to award proper credit for work completed to date? As an academic institution providing services for a fee (often rather exorbitant), is the school in violation of contract law by seeking to enforce a contract that is not valid?
There are tons of things at stake here. The Christian public seems hell bent to cry “shut up and take your punishment!” to this young man, and indeed there are tremendous lessons to be learned, but to automatically assume that the school is right and the student is wrong is a huge mistake.
MANY Christian schools assume “rights” that I am convinced they do not really have in American law. By invoking the Christian standard of “honoring your signature”, they force a lot of Christians to do things that are very legalistic and non-Christian in nature.
Whether or not a child attends a dance is no business of the school. They are trampling the rights of the parents to make decisions about the activities of their own children. If they wish to enforce these kinds of rules, they need to open a boarding school and require parents to sign over complete control of the child’s life. Otherwise, they need to deal with school issues and stop trying to impose their morality in a way that they have no right to do.
Having been the victim of “you agreed to abide by our rules when you applied here” by an exceedingly deceptive college, I know what I’m talking about. The college claims to be the agent of God, quite literally, and takes thousands upon thousands of dollars from students who later find out that their credits won’t transfer, they can’t get into good law or medical schools, etc., and yet the college holds those same students captive with “you better do what you said you would do”…
I’m not a fan of high school proms. I think they are generally terribly sin-ridden, and I agree that Christians should probably steer pretty well clear. They reek of sex and intoxication. However, that doesn’t mean that the school is necessarily in the right in this case, even though they have a perfect right to be in opposition to the activities of a prom.
This is a terrible example of trying to force a kid to be a Christian by rules instead of by the Holy Spirit, and stepping outside the bounds of Christlike interaction all the while.
In other words, “You’ll become a Christian or we’ll burn you at the stake!” Sound familiar? Same mentality, man.
What I’m trying to say in a terribly long-winded way is that I’m not convinced that the student knew AT THE TIME OF THE “AGREEMENT” that the rules applied outside the classroom. If that was not EXPLICITLY made clear in a way that everyone involved understood, the school is trying to enforce an agreement that doesn’t actually exist.
Bernard,
I think the rules are very strict. I wouldn’t allow my kids to be subject to that because they would probably rebel. But if you go to a school and sign an agreement I think you get what you signed up for. My kids go to a Christian School. They do not have those crazy rules. I remember when I was looking at colleges my dad vetoed one in SC and one in FL because of legalism.