Speaking of Dancing…

Who remembers school dances? Did you love them or hate them? Were you the Belle of the Ball or an awkward wallflower? Either way, I’m pretty sure school dances were a regular occurrence in your youth. A rite of passage if you will.

So imagine our surprise when we were looking through documents at the district school office and came across a file of documents all about school dances! Apparently it was a raging controversy back in the 1930s. There were multiple petitions from high school students asking for the right to have dances. There was a letter from Kathryn Hammer Heron (class of 1934) describing how her parents and their friends hosted a Senior Dance at the Skagit Country Club since the School Board refused to allow school dances. According to Kathryn, “It is my recollection that it was such a beautiful occasion for all, the school board soon relented and the Senior Ball, the Junior Prom was born.”

We aren’t sure when the school board relented, because the controversy seemed to continue, or reemerge, in 1936. Once again there were multiple petitions from students. We also found anti-dance letter from First Baptist Church (it was so “Footloose”!).

There was a bulletin, dated October 16, 1936, stating, “The subject of school dances was presented to the school board last evening by a committee of students. The board passed two motions. In one they complimented the committee and expressed their appreciation for the courteous and business like manner in which the committee presented the subject. In the other they thought it unwise for the school as such to assume the responsibility for the sponsorship of dances.” D’oh!

On the bright side, Superintendent J. A. Reeves wasn’t ignoring the students. He sent several letters to principals throughout the area asking about school dances and how they were handled at other schools. Eventually that information was compiled and strict rules were created to govern school dances. The next time we return to the school district office, we might have to dig into the school board records and see if we can find more information. In the meantime, let’s take a moment to celebrate formerly uncelebrated pioneers—the students that established school dances!