Christian School Threatens Expulsion for Secular Prom Attendee

In a move Jesus would surely approve (not!), a fundamentalist school with social rules straight out of the 1950's (no dancing, rock music, hand-holding or kissing), has threatened to expel (savor the irony) a student who plans on attending his girlfriend's prom at a school with a 21st century curriculum.:

17-year-old Tyler Frost who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments, principal Tim England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said. Frost's stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school's rules should not apply outside the classroom.

I'm totally with the stepfather on this one. I've never understood where schools, parochial or otherwise, think they get the right to dictate how students live outside school time. Inside the school, they have every right to enforce whatever rules they see fit, appropriate to their charge. But outside the school, the parents' views hold sway.

Spare me the pedantic "but they signed onto the rules" argument. That just backs up the problem a step: schools do not have the right to demand a say-so in how a child lives outside the school time, so the contract or whatever they signed should be null and void. It is not as if it was an agreement between parties of comparable negotiation positions.

Wake up Heritage Christian School. It's not 1950 any more, and there is no way to make it so again even if we wanted to.