Grade School Ends Father-Daughter Dance Tradition After A Few Parents Say It’s Not ‘Inclusive’
by Eric Owens
Officials in a taxpayer-funded California school district have scuttled an annual father-daughter dance — as well as annual mother-son hike — because a handful of parents complained that the event is not sufficiently “inclusive.”
The father-daughter dance and the mother-son hike had been traditions at Crocker/Riverside Elementary School in Sacramento, reports local Fox affiliate KTXL.
“I’ve had girls I’ve taken to the father-daughter dance, and I enjoyed it very much,” Crocker/Riverside Elementary parent-teacher association president Patrick Kuske told the station.
“We got a request from a couple parents to be more inclusive and change the name,” Kuske also said.
The father-daughter dance and the mother-son hike, which are both PTA fundraising activities, will now be marketed differently.
The Crocker/Riverside father-daughter dance will now be the family dance.
“It’s not just about making money for the school, it’s about having a good time and getting people together,”Kuske told KTXL.
Crocker/Riverside Elementary principal Daniel McCord said he fully supports the new activity names on the theory that children can define their families as any group of people.
“However the child wants to define their family, whoever they want to bring with them, they’re able to do that,” McCord told the station.
“When they walk into their house, it’ll look different than mine. And that’s great!” McCord added. “We want to embrace that and learn from it.”
Principal McCord also said that not a soul has criticized the decision to rename the annual father-daughter dance and mother-son hike.
The Sacramento City Unified School District will meet in early April to discuss the school district’s policies relating to father-daughter dances as well as transgender bathroom policies, KTXL notes. (RELATED: FREE AT LAST: Trump Revokes Obama’s Public School Transgender Bathroom Free-For-All)
Crocker/Riverside Elementary describes itself as “a wonderful neighborhood school with a tradition of high student achievement, academic success for all students and outstanding parent involvement.”
Ending the bane of father-daughter dances has become a fairly common occurrence at America’s public schools.
Last year, for example, officials at Brockman Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina ended the annual father-daughter dance tradition — also because a few parents complained that the event was not sufficiently “inclusive.” A large number of Brockman parents expressed frustration over the cancellation and said they hoped to organize a father-daughter dance, presumably at a venue other than the school. (RELATED: Elementary School Bans Father-Daughter Dance After A Few Parents Say It’s Not ‘Inclusive’)
Also in 2016, the Rochester, Minnesota school district changed the name of father-daughter dances to “parent-daughter dances” to improve sensitivity. The change caused a massive drop in popularity which led to the dance’s wholesale cancellation. The same school district replaced its Halloween party years ago with a “harvest festival” that bans costumes. (RELATED: Minnesota Principal Wants To Halt Celebration Of Valentine’s Day, Other ‘Dominant’ Holidays)
In 2012, the Cranston, Rhode Island public school system banned father-daughter and mother-son events following a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union. (RELATED: Cranston, RI Public Schools Ban ‘Father-Daughter’ Dances Following ACLU Complaint)
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