LifeZette reported on the cancellation earlier this month of a pre-Valentine’s Day “daddy-daughter” dance at Staten Island’s P.S. 65, also called the Academy of Innovative Learning.
The much-anticipated dance was pulled from the New York school’s schedule over administration concerns that the event could violate the Department of Education’s gender-neutral policy.
The event has now been officially rescheduled — with some notable changes.
Instead of a daddy-daughter soiree, P.S. 65 will be holding what it calls the Dolphin Dance.
Dolphins are the school’s mascot.
An announcement flier posted on the school’s website says the March 2 soiree is for “our P.S. 65 students and their parent/guardian.” The venue for the dance is I.S. 61, William A. Morris Intermediate School.
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, expressed deep concern about the change in format of the dance and with the reasons that drove it, as Staten Island Live reported.
Malliotakis penned a letter to the city’s Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor Carmen Farina advocating for reconsideration of the application of the NYC DOE’s Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Student Guidelines to events like the beloved daddy-daughter dance.
“There is no reason to do away entirely with events that have filled children’s lives with joy for years simply to achieve a political agenda … Despite the fact that the prevailing sentiment among parents and students at PS 65 was to continue the tradition of the dance, the PTA was still forced to postpone the event,” she wrote in part in her February 7 letter.
Related: Look What Messed Up This Daddy-Daughter Dance
“I agree that school events should be inclusive and welcoming, but this goal can be accomplished without a ban on every semblance of tradition,” Malliotakis continued. “I ask that this policy please be reconsidered so that students can continue to partake in the same activities they have enjoyed for decades, and so that every American family does not feel that their culture and traditions are under attack by an unnecessary government intrusion.”
Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and regular contributor to LifeZette.
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