A California elementary school has changed the name of its Father-Daughter dance to the “Family Dance” to “be more inclusive.”
Parent Teacher Association president Patrick Kuske, whose organization sponsors the Father-Daughter Dance at Sacramento’s Crocker/Riverside Elementary School, bowed to pressure to change the name of the dance after being told by “a couple of parents” that they don’t like it.
“We got a request from a couple parents to be more inclusive and change the name,” Kuske told Fox 40.
School principal Daniel McCord agreed with the change. “However the child wants to define their family, whoever they want to bring with them they’re able to do that,” McCord said.
The principal also said that there were no complaints from parents after the name change was announced.
Kuske noted that the PTA uses the dances as a fundraiser, so excluding people by the theme of the dance was questioned by some.
Still, the PTA chief said it isn’t all about money. “It’s not just about making money for the school, it’s about having a good time and getting people together at the same time,” Kuske exclaimed.
The Sacramento City Unified School District has also announced it will take this incident as an excuse to review all gender-related activities and issues at the next school board meeting on April 17.
Traditionally, Father-Daughter dances were created to be inclusive, not exclusive. Prior to such events, fathers often felt excluded from their daughters’ school activities because most activities were aimed at mothers and daughters. While fathers and sons were typically involved in sports and similar activities, there were few school events for a father to do with his daughter. The Father-Daughter Dance was created to give fathers an event where they could participate in their little girls’ school activities.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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