Ban Doesn't Stop Dancing At Manchester High School

MANCHESTER, NJ -- Manchester Township High School students have defied a ban on dancing in the school during school hours.

Students began tweeting about the incident around 10 a.m. on Thursday, and sources told the Patch extra security was called in to assist the high school’s two security guards and the school district resource officer in controlling the situation.

One student who was punished for “Unsafe environment and recording minors” posted video of the incident on Twitter. The Patch is not publishing the video because it contains significant profanity, but it shows students being rowdy and yelling in the hallway.

Last Friday, six students were suspended -- three for refusing to leave the area of an incident and three for videotaping the events and refusing to stop, according to Superintendent David Trethaway -- in the wake of Principal Dennis Adams’ announcement that random dance battles were prohibited in the school.

Students, using the hashtag #FreeWBWA, the same tag they used Friday, expressed frustration with the ban.

Both students and administrators say the situation began innocently enough, with just a few students earlier in the week that grew as students began gathering to watch the performers.

“We were having students congregating in big groups having dance-offs that started to create an unsafe environment for students,” Adams said in a letter to parents posted on the district’s website Friday. “Although it started innocently, it escalated into a disturbance. This morning (Friday), another large group congregated, blocking the hallway for students trying to get to class and creating a disorderly and potentially unsafe situation.”

At Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, a resident who identified himself as a retired police officer praised the administration’s response, criticizing those complaining about the ban.

“They took the bull by the horns they brought the situation under control and they deserve our applause,” the man said to applause from the two dozen spectators still in the Ridgeway Middle School media center at the end of the three-hour meeting.

Students have complained about the ban in emails and messages to the Patch, saying the explanation that the dancing is disruptive wasn’t expressed to students at first.

“Dancing broke out everywhere,” wrote one student about Friday’s incidents. “What he failed to explain was that the dance battles were very disruptive, having drawn a lot of attention and causing safety hazards in the halls between classes.”

This is a breaking news story. Check back with Patch for updates.