In what is most likely an overreaction, Liberty High School shut down its Homecoming dance when a fight broke out and it seems that paranoid administrators confused popping balloons as gunshots. But I must emphasize that there was no firearms at the dance and nobody was hospitalized. It's not like kids getting into conflict at school dances are uncommon, raging hormones over romantics attachments tend to happen at such events. But when I was young, back in the 1990's the offending students, usually a couple of boys fighting over a girl, were carted off the dance floor while the rest of us continued to have fun. There was really no good reason for this.
Here is what the news reported. "Liberty High School’s dance on Sept. 27 was called off while the event was in progress. The Liberty Police Department said it started around 9:40 p.m. when “several” students began physically fighting. The balloon popping, likely caused by the fight, led to “panic/confusion.” School security quickly notified police that no shots had been fired. The incident brought a large police presence to campus “out of an abundance of caution.”
Instead, in this case, school officials responded with what can only be described as panic. Balloons popped, kids jumped, and administrators jumped higher. What could have been handled with some firmness and perspective turned into a school-wide shutdown. And while “an abundance of caution” may sound responsible on paper, it sends the wrong message: that ordinary adolescent misbehavior is indistinguishable from a life-threatening emergency.
That’s not to say schools shouldn’t take safety seriously—of course they should. But there is a difference between being prepared and being paranoid. Overreaction not only ruins the experience for students who did nothing wrong, it also erodes trust in school leadership. If every fight at a dance now warrants ending the event and summoning half the police department, it won’t be long before students start rolling their eyes at the very people who are supposed to be in charge.
Homecoming dances are supposed to be a highlight of the school year, a memory students carry with them. This year, many Liberty High kids will remember not the music, the friends, or the fun, but the lights going on, the music shutting down, and everyone being sent home because adults lost their cool.
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