Dirty Dancing Draws Ire of Plymouth-Canton Parents

Dirty dancing between students at Plymouth’s Oct. 8 Homecoming dance has some parent chaperones irate and seeking answers from the Plymouth-Canton district.

Parents who chaperoned the dance told school board members Tuesday that several groups of students engaged in inappropriate, explicit dancing and violated school dress code by wearing revealing outfits. Given complaints by parents and faculty, a meeting between parents and staff is expected to take place next week.

Before chaperoning at the dance with her husband, Ara, Molle Kabodian of Plymouth said she had heard rumors about what went on at the dances — students packed tight while dancing and “grinding” — but she said she was appalled when she saw it for herself.

She described what she saw as she ventured further into the crowd at the dance as “horrific.” She said the Homecoming Dance should be called the “Homecoming Grind.”

Kabodian described grinding as a male dancer with several females close in front of him dancing while making body contact. She said the girls had their hands on the floor, creating a compromising position.

She said if what she saw had been performed in public, someone would call the police. She said students have posted clips of the dancing on websites such as YouTube.

“I want to know how many girls were touched unwantedly and didn’t know how to handle that,” she said. “It was a really vile, sad sight to see.”

Additionally, Kabodian said she and her husband noticed the girls’ dresses were hiked up high and were revealing.

According to the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park Student Handbook, the dress code includes the following provisions:

• Skirts and/or shorts must be modest (even if worn with leggings), the rule of thumb is that they should be fingertip length.
• Garments may not expose underclothing.
• Shirts must completely cover shoulders.
• No bare midriffs.
• No clothing with sexual content, drug, alcohol, or tobacco references.
• Clothing with references to violence is strictly prohibited.
• No dark tinted glasses or sunglasses.
• Students are not to wear items considered potentially dangerous. This includes but is not limited to, chains of any kind, pointed rings or pendants, metal spikes of any kind or gang symbols, etc.
• Students are not to wear hoods up over their heads while inside the school buildings.
• Teachers retain the right to ask students to remove head wear during class time.

The policy, however, focuses on the dress code's effect in the classroom and does not address school-sponsored functions such as dances.

The policy reads:

Any clothing that distracts any individuals from the focus on learning may be in violation of the dress code.

Interim Superintendent Jeremy Hughes said he had heard similar complaints from faculty and plans were in the works for a meeting between parents and staff next week, where the district will come up with recommendations to resolve the issue.