Are graduations getting too expensive? Holy Heart thinks so, and it's scaling back

One of the largest schools in Newfoundland and Labrador is rethinking what its prom should look like, in an effort to make it affordable for everyone.

Holy Heart of Mary stirred some controversy with students last week when it announced plans to cancel the more formal parts of its graduation night.

According toprincipal Sheldon Barry, it's a change that's been a long time coming.

"It has certainly, in our opinion, gotten a little extravagant," he said."Parents who have gone through that would understand that."

Cutting back on costs

In pastyears, Holy Heart rented the ballroom at the Delta Hotel and held its prom ceremonies there. Celebrations moved back to the school in 2015, however, to cut costs.

This year, Barry said, the school planned to cut the supper and the dance from what is traditionally considered part of the prom night experience.

Through student consultations last week, they heard students wanted to keep the dance, but were mostly OK with a scaled-back version.

Some students, however, filed a petition to keep the Holy Heart of Mary prom the way it was in previous years.

In the middle of the petitioning kids and the ruling administration is Sarah Mole, the student council president.

She said most students appreciate the need to make prom more inclusive for everybody, and agreed the costs have gotten exorbitant.

"A lot of people do recognize that it is a big financial burden on a lot of families, especially girls," she said.

"We're out there spending thousands of dollars on dresses plus makeup, hair, shoes, the whole shebang."

When we look at the social justice umbrella, this impacts a lot of students.- Darryl Feener

While the details of the plan are still being worked out, students will likely do without a sit-down dinner, and instead have a meet-and-greet, dance and safe grad a night of games, food and socializing supervised by school chaperones.

According to Darryl Feener, an assistant director with the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District, this is a conversation that's happening provincewide.

"What we're hearing from our families and what we're hearing from our administrators is it's the social aspect of [the] ever-climbing prom ceremonies that really challenge parents financially," he said.

"When we look at the social justice umbrella, this impacts a lot of students."

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With files from The St. John's Morning Show

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