A sort of homecoming

This Saturday at Windham High School, a junior boy and girl are scheduled to parade down Gray Road as part of Homecoming festivities. To the casual observer, the parade will seem typical enough, unless you know the confusing process of how the two “monarchs” came to be.

Three girls and a boy, Dustin Blake, ran for the queen spot and four guys ran for king. Homecoming committee members then changed the rules after the vote was taken when it was learned a boy was elected queen. To avoid any confusion, the committee decided that this year there would be two “monarchs,” instead of the usual king and queen, and so we have a boy and a girl, the two top vote getters out of the eight who ran.

Any way you spin this, it’s sad that the voters’ – in this case members of the junior class – wishes weren’t followed. The boy clearly was running for queen and wanted it. He may have had fine intentions or rebellious ones. High school-aged kids are always pushing the envelope and good for him for going against the grain. And, being a popular student, the boy got many votes from his peers, who obviously also wanted him as queen. In fact, he was the top vote getter in the race for queen. So, that’s why it’s sad the people in charge didn’t allow the boy’s wishes, or the students’ wishes, to rule the day.

It doesn’t matter why this student ran for the queen seat, the same principle holds true. Let the voters decide. And don’t change their vote. Kids wanted one thing and another thing happened once the nomination sheets were in the ballot box. That’s not fair.

One last thing needs to be mentioned and that concerns the process of writing this admittedly delicate story. Gender roles are pretty touchy in present-day America. When anything so out of the ordinary like this happens, people in power can get skeptical and worried about media’s intentions. And that’s very understandable. It’s sadly true sometimes that the media hypes and filters stories to fit their biases. And while no newsperson can claim to have no biases, this story is an interesting one and school officials are bound to explain to the public what is happening in our publicly funded schools. And they should do that through the media, including newspapers like this one.

It was funny this week to see how negatively the school administration reacted to our questions about this vote for the Homecoming court. I doubt anyone will say a boy running for queen isn’t interesting, even fascinating. But even more interesting, and telling of the social climate we live in, is how the people in charge of the vote changed the titles to monarchs once the final vote was tallied. And, as CBS’s 60 Minutes would say, that’s a story.

As Americans, we need to keep in the front of our minds that everything public, including public schools, is open for public perusal and scrutiny. What’s happening in our taxpayer-funded schools is not off the record or private. This is a school-sanctioned contest. Homecoming is a public event with the king and queen traditionally appearing on a float riding down the road. You don’t get much more public than that.

Newspapers write about Homecoming events quite regularly, as we do about most everything that happens in schools. This year’s Homecoming is a little different with a boy running for queen and the public deserves to know about it, just as they deserve to know about other events in school.

Everyone needs to remember that we have freedom of access and a right to free speech in this country. When school officials deny the public’s right to know, claiming red herring “privacy” issues, our rights as Americans erode. And it’s the press’ charge and responsibility to “press” for more information. But, the pressing shouldn’t get so much resistance. That hampers the public’s right to know. Superintendent Sandy Prince wouldn’t even give the newspaper the other names of the Homecoming court saying he would need to get “counsel” before doing so. I’m sure if the vote hadn’t been altered, we would have gotten the names in the whirl of a magic wand.

This is a minor story, by the way. It doesn’t have to do with taxes or public safety or the integrity of town officials. This is about a boy who would be queen but wasn’t allowed to be. The only one hurt here is this boy, whose ambitions were squelched by others intent on not rocking the boat. We applaud this kid for bucking trends and doing something different.

-John Balentine, editor