As a Student in a High school that is goign to be nameless, i have seen my fair sare of dresses and the standers for the dance. It is amazing that the Princable of Stansbury high school is doing this for his students. There is no need for him to say sorry. They know the dress code and they know the standerds for that school is high. They were set high the first dayt eh school opend. saprizingly they are still high if you look at all the other school that are in that area. It is really nice of the Princabol of that school to give them a free dance to make up the one that was lost. He really didnt need to do that and hold meeting with each of the classes in the high school to work out the problem. So to the Princabol of that School, Hats off to you.

Thanks for the clarification, elglar. I can appreciate your opinion as well. But I think Cedargirl below offers the best and most logical opinion based on her extensive experience in education, while cwarr adds even more insight as to the possible cause of this particular fiasco. I was happy to read that as he/she seems to have a good command of the facts. I'm sure we'll all be interested to see how the School District disciplines those it employs having such an obvious lack of common sense coupled with a penchant for the unconscionable exercise of their supposed authority, which could better be described as "pinhead thinking," to borrow Cedargirl's words.

And Dennis I meant bashing the school system and the administrators. It's not their fault they are expected to uphold the religious majority's standards.

Dennis -- nope. Just my opinion on the mentality of Utah.

@Elglar: "...they need to look at the standards that are set by the majority religion of the State." I'll bet you copied that right out of the U. S. Constitution, didn't you?

After spending 32 years in education, it never ceases to amaze me that there are adults who, when needing to feel empowered, make thoughtless decisions. This situation is wrong on so many levels. Whomever the individuals were that turned these "selected" girls away, wordlessly stated that they looked "trampy." They did not! Would the chaperones prefer they arrive in prairie dresses with bloomers? The dresses shown were NOT figure forming, sheer, or with slits up the thigh. They were sweet. The fact that some girls with shorter dresses were permitted to stay, is another issue. You simply cannot pick and choose where you apply the rule. Common sense did NOT prevail. "Pinhead thinking" pretty much was the order of the day. I think, even more importantly than having a make up dance, the individual that initiated the screening needs to attend some sort of sensitivity training so that he/she learns how not to wreck someone's self esteem, how to handle social situations with decorum (especially if their religious prejudices may come into play), and how to determine what is truly important. As far as the administrator is concerned - Mr. Topham is going to ride the fence on this one both with his staff and his parents.

Stansbury High has a new Assistant Principal this school year. This person was the principal at Grantsville Middle School when my oldest son attended. When he was put in as principal at Grantsville Middle school the Tooele School District dealt with the same problem with his idea of the dress code everyone should have. He was insisting that all the boys must have their shirts tucked in while at school. If they failed to have their shirts tucked in they had to call parents to alert them that they were not following school dress code. This caused the same issues with parents then as it is now and it is the same person that has caused all of this again. The Tooele School District needs to take disciplinary actions against this man and stop this insanity. Stansbury High School never had any issues with the dress code until he was put in this position and was allowed to turn students away and make his own judgements on their dress decisions.

This is a Utah thing. My son and his girlfriend were turned away from a homecoming dance 4 years ago because her dress was "immodest". It was a beautiful full length dress with spagetti straps. The problem was the back was laced up and didn't fit the moral standards of this State. These parents are complaining because they spent their time and money. This dear girl spent her own time and her own money -- no help from anyone and it was her first semi formal dance. Broke her heart but she had the integrity to go change, go back to the dance and make it their problem, not hers. I don't agree with this at all, but before people start bashing they need to look at the standards that are set by the majority religion of the State.

The TV news showed the girls in their prom dresses and I didn't see anything that looked immodest. So the dresses were a little above the knee. What's wrong with that? Are bare knees going to turn the boys on so much they won't be able to control their urges? If that's the reasoning, come on. Don't make the girls responsible for the boys' feelings. Girls are people, not sex objects, which is what this stupid dress policy makes them. Sharee

Maybe girls should stop wearing inmodest clothing so we can curtail the teen preagnancy rate. Or maybe some prefer there daughters to get knocked up on there date. I'm with the school on keeping the dresses modest. If you look like a tramp you will attract those type of guys.