Two years ago, I learned of events that were being hosted throughout the country by parents or school districts for their children that created a fun, safe haven for them on nights that can be dangerous due to parties or car accidents. Graduation and prom are the two most dangerous nights statistically for our youth, similar to New Years Eve.
After visiting many of these all night gatherings in surrounding towns and meeting with their leaders, I became motivated to see this become a reality for our community.
Naively, I recall thinking that this was something that would really “take off” right away. “The parents will really be thrilled that someone is willing to organize this!” but little did
I know that only a handful of other brave parents would step up to help. After two years of hard work and advertising, the “Grand Finale After Dark Committee” had to make the
difficult decision to cancel the event that they worked so hard to raise money for.
What are the reasons for this cancellation?
Well, for starters, prom was early this year and it fell on the week following vacation. Therefore, the 800 invitations that were mailed to the homes of students were possibly lost in the paperwork that was put aside to be dealt with later. Students did not pre register resulting in the concern that the money that was raised would not justify the cost of the event.
Other towns spend up to $16,000.00 to host their events at their high school buildings. They create “theme” events that are exciting for the kids with prizes and entertainment. This committee was able to come up with a fun night with all of the same for under $7000.00 after being turned down by the school district when we asked to host an event based on an Academy Awards theme in the GDRHS. “We were really excited to turn the Black Box theater into “Twilight” and have the students arrive on the red carpet with photographers and live “Oscars” painted in gold.” But, after meeting with Dr. Genovese regarding the idea in April of 2009, the committee left despondent as we were told they were “concerned about liability”. We were told they did not want to “sanction this as a school district event” and we would have to host this as a private party and would be faced with all of the costs associated with that. We were shocked and confused by this lack of support and were thankful to Atty. Anna Elliot for recommending that we go before the school committee with our idea. Eventually we did receive support in various ways thanks to the school committee but still had to host the event elsewhere.
What would we do differently?
We hope that our new superintendent will be more supportive and will consider offering buses to and from prom as an option or will consider hosting prom at a facility that offers the option for an after prom event right there in their sports club as well, such as Hampshire Hills in Milford, NH. Years ago, Groton offered this and it fell by the wayside. Or, possibly offer the after prom or graduation night event at the High School itself.
What will happen with the donation I made?
If you made a donation to the after prom event itself then you will soon receive a letter giving you the option to be refunded or to give us some time to form a new committee of parents who step up to make an event like this a reality. On December 1st 2010, the decision will be made to offer you a refund or to donate the money to another related cause if a strong committee has not been formed. Prizes that were donated for the after prom night have been returned to their donors.
What will it take?
We would change our name to “GD After Dark”, “GD After Prom”, or “GD Senior Night” to make it more recognizable and would lose the “Grand Finale” piece of the name. We would ask the whole community to go to our website and give us their opinion regarding this idea for the future. Should this be a mandated event that is incorporated into prom planning? Would your son or daughter prefer a graduation night event because they are too tired on prom night because prom is on a school night?
It truly takes a village to make this happen. Everyone can become involved and needs to care. We found out later that there were students who had registration forms with them at school but didn’t turn them in because they were waiting to see if others weregoing.Many parents offered their home as an option to go to instead of the after prom event. As long as parents offer that, even if alcohol is not available, then kids will not come to the event!!
I heard “My daughter or son just didn’t want to go”. Well, they certainly aren’t going to go if you the parent don’t support this effort. Students who walked by me in the hall on registration day kept saying “No, I am going to a party... I have plans that night”. “Kids just want to go to parties and drink Mrs. Sierra” others told me.
We need the parents to get involved and stand strong on their belief that this is an important event for our community if it is ever going to become a reality! Hopefully it won’t take a fatality for people to get involved. Let’s be proactive folks.
Please click here to share your opinions regarding this effort.
