Officials Consider Banning Non-Braintree High Students from Homecoming

More than 1,000 teenagers regularly pack into the Braintree High School gymnasium for the Homecoming Dance, a difficult safety issue made worse, school officials say, by the number of attendees from outside BHS.

As part of the annual school handbook approval process, Headmaster James Lee has asked the School Committee to approve a change that would block any non-BHS students from attending the fall dance. 

"That is a mob of humanity," Lee told committee members. "Should something happen in the middle of that floor, it would take an Act of Congress to get in there."

The request, which also includes not allowing middle school students at any Braintree High dance, was part of a presentation of elementary, middle and high school handbooks Monday night. Committee members said they would consider all three handbooks – it is the first year an elementary-wide policy guide has been pitched – and return to vote in August.

Lee said that the Homecoming policy must contain no exceptions, even for guests presented to school officials in advance or recent BHS graduates. The Prom, he said, is the proper venue for bringing in an outside guest.

The headmaster also said he did not wish to cap the number of Braintree High students attending the dance. Staff have a "greater element of control" over those students, he said.

Non-BHS students "don't have anything at stake if they are not a member of our school," Housemaster Nancy Moynihan said.

Among the other BHS handbook changes requested:

• Allow students to use electronic devices in the cafeteria and during study halls, but not to make phone calls. Right now they are banned throughout the school day.

• If caught smoking, a student should receive a three-day in-school suspension instead of three-day out-of-school suspension

• Students should arrive by 8:30 a.m. to participate in any extracurricular activity and stay until 2:05 p.m. Those leaving early are not excused unless leaving for doctor's appointment, court, or family funeral.

• A student must visit the nurse before being dismissed sick 

• Eliminate quarterly paper progress reports. Instead, teachers would update term average quarterly in the Student and Parent Portal in Aspen and parents would be notified electronically. Parents without Internet access could request paper copies.