Prom day class cancellations outrage local students
Plans to skip school wantonly quelled
Friday, May 11, 2007The Crater LASALLE, ONTARIO—A decision by Sandwich Secondary School staff to give its pupils the day off today has received sharp criticism from students in their final year at the educational institution, a report compiled this week detailed.
Sandwich Secondary School student Scott Corrigan takes one last longing look around his school's gymnasium before the mandatory three-day weekend.
"This fuckin' sucks," groaned Scott Corrigan, a twelfth-grader, as he barrelled past a teacher on hall monitor duty. "I never skipped school, like, ever!" he exclaimed. "I was saving up all my rebellion for this! It was going to be, like, my one big skip." Friend Paul Mayes echoed Corrigan's attitude, viewing his own final secondary school year as one of increasing responsibility and a time when he "planned to stay out of school by [his] own means," rather than rely on authorized holidays.
The sentiment was glaring across all corners of the building.
"Skip On Thursday!" read a small, handmade poster on a sheet of loose-leaf paper as it was mundanely removed from a cafeteria wall by Vice Principal Marv Crawford. "It's the only way to show them how well [sic] feel!" it went on to say in pencil. This particular effort, operated by an anonymous individual or group, proved to be ineffectual: Classes were likewise cancelled Thursday due to foggy weather conditions.
"I don't see why the kids are reacting so brashly over this," Mary Edwards, principal of Sandwich, said. "The kids always stay home on prom day, so we figured we would be helping them out by giving them the day off legally instead."
Sheila Gable, who heads the Prom Committee at Sandwich, did not share Edwards' viewpoint.
"Edwards has ambushed all of my hard work," Gable scoffed in the broom closet turned student council office. "The school doesn't have total power over its students. I believe I speak for the entire committee when I say—" Cut off by the sound of a bell, Gable hurried off to her third period class.
While Professional Activity days are scheduled by the Greater Essex County District School Board, Edwards claimed her staff had heavily influenced the Board's decision.
"If you look at the PA day agenda for May eleventh, 2007, you'll find the third module for discussion is called 'Failure is Not an Option,'" Edwards emphasized. "What happens when kids don't come to school for a day? Failure—it's the name of the game."
Added Edwards: "You get what you get."
Adolescents attending other area high schools have made nearly as much noise as their Sandwich counterparts. Jaimie Cummings, a senior student at Windsor high school Kennedy Collegiate Institute, believes her LaSalle cohorts are wasting a "perfectly good" Professional Activity day on a historically slow school day, though she expressed passing confusion between Professional Activity and Professional Development days.
"I'm just relieved we get to skip the day of [our prom] in June," Cummings concluded.
Sandwich students are at home today, even with the uproar. While it is too late to amend the situation for the current year, the younger pupils at Sandwich had thoughts in line with their older peers for 2008.
"This is an outrage, man," said Bryce Elcombe, a tenth grade boy with flowing blonde locks. "My sister's in grade 11, and she's dating a guy in 12, so I would've skipped anyway. There's no excuse for eclipsing an accepted skip day by slapping a P[A] day over it."
"Man, if 4:20 falls on a Sunday next year," Elcombe agonized, before drifting off.
