To the editor:

An essential part of the high school experience is participating in after school activities, sports and social functions. These experiences create fond memories that last long after graduation. Recently, the administration at Mt. Hope deprived me the full enjoyment of some school functions through practices that are arbitrary and in my opinion downright discriminatory.

Homecoming and Spirit Week are some of the most memorable activities in which students participate each year. I was recently selected to be on the Homecoming Court during the Homecoming football game. Traditionally, the members of the Court begin the Homecoming dance the following night. My dance was ruined by a little known and arbitrary rule; a rule not found in the student handbook or any other document students have access to or are made aware of. This rule prohibits anyone who is not a current student from attending the dance. My girlfriend is a Warren resident, but not a Mt. Hope student, and so I was not allowed to enjoy the quintessential high school experience of taking a girlfriend to the Homecoming dance because the school’s policy prohibited her from attending.

The high school claims to be an open and welcoming community. There are multiple school policies and partnership programs that help Bristol/Warren residents who are homeschooled or attend a private school access a full high school experience. For example, a student from Bristol/Warren who attends the MET in Providence can join any of the Mt. Hope sports teams if that sport is not offered at the MET. Apparently this openness does not apply to a staple high school event such as Homecoming. A student at the MET would be able to play in the Homecoming game on the football team, but cannot attend the dance the following day. The school’s arbitrary policy opens school functions like Homecoming to homeschooled students yet students living in the district that attend private schools are excluded. There is no major difference between homeschooling and private schools that warrants preferential treatment of homeschoolers and discrimination toward private school students.

Not every private school offers an experience like Homecoming. Neither homeschooled nor private schooled students get a diploma from Mt. Hope. School policies should treat both types of students equally. Any policy letting some outside students who are Bristol/Warren residents attend but not others is clearly arbitrary. School administrators may attempt citing concerns such as safety or other reasons to justify the policy, but there has to be a more narrowly tailored way to achieve those goals. Every other Mt. Hope dance permits outside guests as long as a permission slip is filled out. Why can’t they put that same policy in place for homecoming? What is so different about homecoming that it needs stricter attendance policies? It seems to me that the school is stripping away the ability of high school aged residents in our community to make some cherished memories simply because it is more convenient for them.

Nicholas Silva

Bristol