In a bid to return to normalcy after what they say has been “an incredibly tiring year,” a group of Wellesley High School seniors has put together a change.org petition urging the administration to allow Prom to go forward.
Their ask, via the petition: “We would love to see the upper-level administration in Wellesley and Dr. Lussier to give the seniors the prom they have looked forward too, or at the very least give give reconsideration to the matter, finally including the opinions and perspectives of the seniors that their decision directly effects.”
Although the desire to hold Prom has intensified with students returning to full in-person learning, WHS Principal Jamie Chisum points out that the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) has not changed its guidance on proms. DESE earlier this month strongly discouraged schools from hosting them, citing the continued risk by students and staff of exposure to COVID.
Specifically, the DESE guidelines say, “Prom is an inherently high-risk activity, as it is a social gathering that involves dancing and singing (both of which are activities with increased respiration), and also presents concerning opportunities for students to break health and safety protocols in a relaxed environment.”
DESE recommends that schools offer alternative celebrations for seniors, but leaves a window open by saying, “If schools do choose to hold proms, it is strongly recommended that they delay the prom until after the end of the school year, ideally delaying until such time when most students attending prom will have been vaccinated.”
People age 16 and older who live, work, or study in Massachusetts can get vaccinated.
Clipped from article”
“We would love to see the upper-level administration in Wellesley and Dr. Lussier to give the seniors the prom they have looked forward too, or at the very least give give reconsideration to the matter, finally including the opinions and perspectives of the seniors that their decision directly effects.”
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I sincerely hope the words of the petition to change.org is a misprint on the part of The Swellesley Report and not a word-for-word reproduction of what was actually written by graduating seniors of Wellesley High School, because if it is, they would seem to have a lot more to be concerned about than a prom in a time that one would still be an elevated risk
Towns all around us are finding ways to hold proms and Wellesley cannot? These students have sacrificed all year for the community — for their teachers, their families, and those they do not know but who are immune compromised. They’ve spit into vials every week, complied with contract tracing, zooming classes from home, adjusted classes, reduced time on learning upwards of 30-40%, the highest levels of rejection from colleges that the country has ever seen, loss of all junior year celebrations as well. All while the virus never posed a significant threat to them. Do we need to steal the last weeks of their childhood from them completely? Most of them are vaccinated already – or at least partially so. The state is relaxing mask laws outside for the vaccinated and unvaccinated. At a certain point, it borders on cruel. let them have a prom – let them have hope for their future.