# Principal of Catholic School cancels 'Bacchanalian' Prom **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 16, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509 "2005-10-16T21:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509/21 "2005-10-17T21:34:56Z")
The sad thing is, these families are probably not even all that wealthy. Kellenberg’s tuition is about $6000 a year- not especially expensive for even a Catholic school in the area. I knew it would happen someday- eventually the excess would cause a Catholic school somewhere in the area to cancel or drastically change some event-and I wish it had gotten more local news coverage. Because you see, it doesn’t begin and end with 46 kids spending $20,000 to rent a house for a single night. It starts with first communion girls showing up in limos, continues to eighth graders showing up in strapless prom dresses to “dinner and slide show with the parents and then a dance for the kids”, and goes on to sweet sixteens which involve large courts in tuxes and gowns. I can’t even imagine what the weddings will be like. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509/22 "2005-10-18T01:58:01Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > Can’t blame him? I applaud him. It’s not as if he didn’t give fair warning. > > He said the prom couldn’t go on unless students cancelled their beach house rental. He cancelled it after he got word that some _parents_ re-rented a place. > > Our after prom was even better than that. We really couldn’t leave. > > The prom was in Pittsburgh, at Station Square. Afterward, we boarded one of the boats of the Gateway Clipper fleet for the after prom party for a five hour ride up river to Monongahela, where our high school was located. If you left the party, you’d get mighty wet, in a very swift current. Oh hey, I give him a lot of credit. I’ll bet the school saves a lot of money, too, that can be spent on other things. I remember once a speacker came to our school about drinking and such. She told us about a parent who was volunteering at the school’s after prom, and called the principal up, wanting to know how many kids were attending. You see, she needed to know how much vodka to buy for the Bloody Marys. :rolleyes: The clipper fleet-a couple of other schools I knew did the same (North Allegheny, Deer Lakes), but Hampton was just too small to do that at the time. I know they did it back when my dad went to prom at Hampton, but not when I was there. **Mr Moto** , this might interest you: the man who owns the Clipper Fleet, or at least one of them, John Connelly, goes to my parents’ church. For my sister’s 8th grade school party, since he was good friends with her teacher, they had it on the Majestic. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509/23 "2005-10-18T13:44:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, but that’s not the _express purpose_ of college, it’s something that comes with living on your own with the other students. Clearly you don’t remember college that well. I’m there now, and can tell you that there are plenty of “students” who go to college simply to indulge in the things even sven mentioned, and classes are just an occasional chore they have to suffer through. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509/24 "2005-10-18T17:43:22Z")
> [@Soapbox Monkey](#): > > Clearly you don’t remember college that well. Jeez, I only graduated last June. I understand that some people do nothing but party when they go off to school, but that still isn’t the purpose of the instutition of college. I think I got it right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/principal-of-catholic-school-cancels-bacchanalian-prom/326509.md?page=1)