Christian school to teen: Skip prom
May 9th, 2009 . by TexasFredChristian school to teen: Skip prom
FINDLAY, Ohio - 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.
Full Story Here:
Christian school to teen: Skip prom
Do you know why fundamentalist Baptist folks won’t have sex standing up?? They are afraid that if someone saw them, they might think they were dancing. 
The American Taliban strikes again. It’s a really good thing that fundamentalist Baptist don’t believe in beheadings, you could still tell the difference between fundamentalist Baptist Taliban and Islamic Taliban I think, no burkas on the Baptists. 
OK, in all seriousness, does the school have any right to tell this kid what to do away from their school? Obviously his school isn’t going to have a prom, so, why do they care if he goes to one with his girlfriend?
In all fairness, the kid and his family knew the rules going in, and obviously they accepted them, or the kid wouldn’t be attending this fundamentalist Baptist school. Could the kid have just not told anyone at his fundamentalist Baptist school that he was going? He must have told someone, otherwise, how did the school officials know?
Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen. A 17 year old kid that’s never even been to a dance NOT tell his buddies he’s going to the prom?? Even as old as I am, I still remember some of those *1st time* happenings, you just had to tell someone.
Rules are rules and if that’s the choices the kids and his family made, to attend this school, he really has to abide BY their rules or suffer the consequences. Me? I would have managed to get myself expelled from that school ASAP. That’s exactly what I did in 7th grade, my mother decided that we were going to attend a private Catholic school, that was a disaster.
School should be about getting a well rounded education, and that entails a social education as well as an academic one.
Sounds like the movie “Footloose” but in real life.
Amazing. Kind of reminds me of those companies that tells you that ya can’t smoke or drink or whatever in your own home, or risk being fired. Same invasion of privacy.
My question is, did the kid and his parents know this was one of the school’s rules? That he wouldn’t be allowed to attend any function, outside of the school, that involved dancing?
This is one of those things that bugs me about ‘fundamentalists’. If they had ever bothered to actually READ the Bible, they would know that dancing is NOT prohibited. David danced. Although, some of what they call dancing these days…..well, in my old fart opinion, is down right nasty.
Did you read the article at the link??
From the story: 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. (snip)
The handbook for the 84-student Christian school says rock music “is part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people’s hearts and minds.”
I would have to say he, AND his family, knew the rules of this school, and apparently accepted them…
Crap. Thought I had. Ok, went back and read again. Yep. He knew. So, I’d say the school is well within it’s rights.
My views on this is…How good of a dancer can a guy that is not suppose to dance be???? It appears that he would be doing nothing more than hugging her while out on the dance floor…but maybe that church has something against hugs. Of course a contract is a contract….but can a 17 yr old boy legally sign a contract?
But hugging is BAD… Hugging leads to *feelings* and feelings lead to arousal and arousal leads to… Well, you get the idea…
Regarding a contract, probably not, but they call it a *statement of cooperation*, I am only guessing but I’m inclined to believe that it’s as much a contract as an abstinence pledge… Somehow, I doubt it’s legal and binding.. Semantics mostly…
Personally, if I were the kid, I’d go to the prom, have a great time, take the suspension, retake my finals, get my diploma and tell em to kiss my dancing ass on the way out the door…
There’s a difference between a prom and your Friday and Saturday night honky tonk *bar crawl*, just wondering, has this schools administration found a place close to Findlay where *they* can go to have an anonymous good time??
Might I suggest the hotel bar behind the Petro at Stony Ridge??
Too funny!
In tenth grade, I decided I wanted to attend the same private school as my buddy; a Baptist High School. Now, nothing but a history in the public school environment, to say I had culture shock was an understatement.
There were so many pretty girls, but all were absolutely off limits. I obviously did not realize ‘how’ off limits they were. By the end of the winter semester, I had been suspended, and was a permanent resident of the probation roster, missing just about every soccer and basketball game of the season, and then got the boot right before Christmas.
Did I know the rules? well, I signed them, but in reality, had no point of reference as to the severity of them. But did that relieve me of accountability for my behavior? Not a chance.
The point is we make decisions everyday. Liberals want to absolve folks from the consequences of bad decisions. I say too damn bad; deal with it. Let him go to the prom if he wants, and then let him deal with the consequences of his decision. That’s what life is.
If he did agree to abide by the school’s rules, he will have to face the consequences if he goes to the prom. The school has the right to set whatever rules they want if they accept no public money. He doesn’t have to attend. While we may see their beliefs as restrictive, they see them as normal. It’s a binary solution set: 1. don’t go to the prom and stay at the school. 2. go to the prom and risk probation or expulsion.
I would go to the prom! But that’s me.
Angry White Dude
PS I like the new photo Fred. Don’t get too sexy for those tea party lovelies!
First and foremost, no minor can sign a true contract, but that is not an issue here. Second, it doesn’t matter if his parents signed a binding contract, that’s THEM, not him. Lastly, as it’s been said, as they receive no govt. money, they can set their own rules, and enforce them. Now, that said, on to my rant.
Is this right? Not at all!! Groups like this are the ones who have most of the country thinking that all Christians are the type of people to bomb abortion clinics and such. I am as anti-abortion as it comes, but I’m not going to KILL to stop it!
The simple truth is this, the kid signed that he knew the rules, would follow them, and understood the consequences of not following them. Whether he read what he was signing or not? Not an issue here. Personally I agree that the school is ZERO authority outside of their walls and when not in session, but they set and he signed, so it’s moot. I’d go to the prom, take the make up finals and graduate just before ensuring that I let them know I would tell the world what they did, how they treat their students and ensuring that anyone I could was convinced to NOT send their kids to that school or any they are affiliated with.
But that’s just me.
Go to the Prom, screw them. You are only a kid once. Life is so damned stressful he should have fun while he can. If going to a prom is going to send you to hell, we’re all in trouble. Who are they to judge? That’s what I don’t get about religion, who are they to decide what my Loving God decides?
And screw the contract too. He only needs one contract and that’s the one between him and God. Nobody else. If people let these Religious Jokers control one thing, poof, they have control of everything.
All he has to do is hang out at the local bar with a camera. None of us are perfect. I hate people that act like they are. Go to the Prom, have an awesome time, take punishment, graduate.
Then life begins….
The more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to agree….go to the prom! So, he gets his diploma a few weeks later than his classmates. Ever been to a go on and on and on and on graduation? Jeeez. After going to my two older sisters graduation ‘ceremonies’, I opted out of my own. Got my diploma anyway, and no one ever asked me if I stood in line with a bunch of other 17 and 18 year old kids when I applied for a job.
Well hell yeah go to the prom, and once he gets LEGAL age, hit a few bars in the surrounding towns, quite likely he’ll find a few of his fundamentalist leaders having a cold one on the sly, or worse…
I say go to the prom, dance with your girl, have fun, and enjoy yourself.
My Mother always told me, that going to school was going to be the best years of my life because I wouldn’t have a thing to worry about except passing, and I believe she was right on. If this young man faithfully kept his side of the contract DURING his school years, I think it’s time for the school to release him to the world with God speed and hope he takes some of what he has learned with him. I think then, that he can start his adult life with fonder memories and not hesitate to send HIS children to that same school. I DO think we need to bring GOD back into the schools, and as fast as we can. As for class reunions…… I don’t go to them anymore because I keep running into all these OLD people that keep swearing they know me…..LOL
Sometimes people just need to keep quiet and not tell others their intentions. His school would have never know if he had just kept quiet. And also, who is making a big deal of it so that the news services, especially MSNBC, picks it up? I had my boys in private schools at one time and on occasion I disagreed with the rules. But, I signed a paper knowing what the rules were and when a conflict arose, I didn’t whine to the news media. If it got to where I couldn’t live with the rules, I was free to put my boys in public school.
Like the Outfitter up in Montana always said that if you come across a wolf, you “shoot, shovel, and shut up”.
I find no fault with the school…there rules are well known to the parents and the students…..and if his parents know he is doing this…okay…no problem….he can face the consequences of his actions…are the “fundamentalists” to fundamental…probably…if you look at the history of churches you can see where they split along liberal conservative sides….there are Baptist Churches all through the South with one just up the road from the other for no other reason than one group was conservative and the other was liberal….and Fred ain’t lyin’….he got kicked….I remember that….I had a good friend in High School that got kicked out of a Seventh Day Adventist boarding school for sneaking into the office after hours and putting a rock and roll record on the PA system….he was delighted….I had never seen anyone enjoy freedom like he did…and you are correct Kate…the Bible does indeed say to dance and sing and make music….very clearly actually….it also says to avoid Fred if you want to make it into Heaven….I’ll look up the passage for you…
correction…..THEIR rules…sheesh…
Well John, you’re gonna be in damned good company!!
And John, if you remember correctly, it was YOUR baby brother that was right in there in the middle of it too!!
And the sad part is, all we did was compose a letter to my girlfriend, I was 13 and my cousin Mike was 18, and I thought he was WAY more worldly than I was… He helped me write a letter to this girl I had a serious crush on.. One of the *penguins* saw me give it to her, she took the letter, gave it to the head pervert in charge of the Catholic school and next thing you know, you’d think that Mike and I had committed some cardinal sin or called the pope a faggot or something…
All over a damned letter… And FWIW, there was NO sex talk of ANY kind in the letter, no curse words, no innuendo, no nothing other than letting the girl know I liked her…
And some anal retentive SOB of a priest threw ME out of St. James catholic school in OKC..
If I had known it was that easy to get my sentence commuted, I’d have written the letter 6 months sooner…
The one thing that is not mentioned here is that for a student of another school to attend Findlay’s Prom he/she must have their principal sign a letter of permission or they will not be allowed to attend. The principal of his school did in fact sign the letter. So if there is anyone the broke the rules it would be the principal, as Tyler did as he was suspose to, he asked and got written permission from his principal to attend the prom for Findlay High School. So my question to the committee that upheld the suspension is what action will they be taking againist the principal for giving permission for one of his students to break the rules (which I do not agree with). If the principal felt that strongly about the dancing and music all he had to do was refuse to sign the permission letter and the case would have been closed. Then if Tyler found a way to go the school would have been in the right to take action, but by signing the permission letter they waived any claim later againist Tyler.
Fred. they must’av transferred the head pervert from your school to mine. LOL SHE, had an 18 X 2 inch ruler that was 1/2 ” thick that she used to whack us with on our outstretched hands(palms up). The severity of the punishment was based upon the violation. Talking in class, ruler flatways, arguing with the teacher, edgeways. Disrupting the class AND arguing repeatedly,……palms down with ruler edgeways.
Good old Sister Sara Ann. She probably was promoted to head master at some gulag somewhere in the east bloc…….LOL
Y’all are making me REAL happy my parents decided against sending us to a Catholic school. Not that we were Catholic, but we did go to an Episcopalian one for a few years, and we weren’t Episcopalian either.
No Zimden, I’ll let that comment stay I think, I love to see a rant made by folks that didn’t read it ALL before they commented…
I live about 60 miles south of Findlay(home of Marathon Oil Company and Whirlpool)…and was there yesterday(Saturday) while doing a High School Sectional Baseball tournament double header.
With that out of the way….The kid and his parents knew what they were getting into when they enrolled at the school….they need to shut the Hell up, the rules or the rules, or take the kid out and put him in Findlay City Schools….one of the largest schools in the state, Findaly is hardly inner city or a bad school as public schools go…this is much ado about nothing, the parents and little Jonny Boy making a mountain out of a freaking molehill.
My bad. I failed to read the whole story to where the boy got permission for his principal to attend the prom. Thanks Zimden for pointing this out. If the principal gave permission and is now threatening the boy, he’s out of line. He’s wishy-washy as he failed to take a stand when the boy came to him for permission.
This brings up, once again, the issue of Social Conservatism vs. Fiscal Conservatism — and how and why certain elements get linked to Conservatism. And these guys get lumped in with ALL the elements of Conservatism. I’m no Baptist and I’m generally pretty close-mouthed about religion in general and I’m not a big advocate of organized religions, so I suppose you could classify me as a Fiscal Conservative more than a Social Conservative. In my opinion, these guys tend to make Conservatives labeled as mouth-breathers.
BZ