Let's Dance!

It took some doing to undo the undoing but it finally got done.

A long-planned middle school dance, which had originally been scheduled for Friday and was then cancelled because of a conflict with the Jewish High Holy day of Yom Kippur.

But appeals to the school board Tuesday night were successful and the dance was reinstated.

Several members of the executive committee of the school's PTO joined school board candidate Rick Rabinowitz in objecting to the cancellation.

But will the boys actually ask?.....

Rabinowitz, called it a "last minute cancellation" and said as such, "it does more harm than good" to cancel it.

He suggested the district adopt a simple rule: if a holiday or event "doesn't warrant school cancellation, don't cancel the event."

"At this late hour, pulling the rug out from under their feet is likely to create a backlash against Jewish students," he said.

"Let's let the kids dance," Rabinowitz said.

His comments were followed by Marissa Neeson and three other members of the PTO's executive board, who asked why the dance should be cancelled for Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown on Friday and ends on sundown on Saturday, but athletic and band events were still being allowed on Saturday.

"We're just looking for some consistency," said Neeson.

Then again, maybe they shouldn't.....

The dance, she said was attended by 370 students last year and raised "more than $2,000. This is one of our major fund-raisers to buy things like the benches we put outside this building," Neeson told the board.

Superintendent Shellie Feola said it had been her understanding that the date had simply been changed, but the PTO parents said finding a date that did not conflict with other district events had been very difficult.

She said it is "somewhat of a tradition we have in the district to have respect for that day."

However, as the meeting wound down, school board member Justin Valentine said he felt the dance should be allowed to go forward since so much planning had gone into it.

Board member Patti Grimm said "I agree completely."

And although the PTO members had left, they were called back into the meeting and confirmed they could indeed jump start their preparations back into motion.