Gone are the days where students could bring guests from other schools as their date to Christmas Banquet and Junior Senior Banquet and celebrate with a party afterwards.

Westminster is tightening the slack on social events, even the ones that are not associated with WCA, but planned by PAW, Parents Advancing Westminster. There have been major concerns after past banquets and events about students’ conduct that have brought about these changes.

“Concerns have been building about the after parties and what happens there for years now. Parents and even students have been coming to the administration requesting for us to do something. We went to Westminster’s legal counsel, and they told us that in order to avoid lawsuits we have to completely support these after parties or completely separate from them, so we chose to make the separation clear,” said Jim Sefrit, Upper School Pricipal.

The CB and JSB after parties have always been separate from WCA because they are parent sponsored events. However, when parents advertise by putting notes on or in lockers and around school, it makes the school responsible for what happens there.

PAW parents are no longer allowed to put notes in student’s lockers advertising for after-parties and mixers. They cannot plan after-parties at these meetings, and no administration or staff members will support or be involved in any of these events. Westminster is ensuring that these events are sponsored solely by parents.

“People want the school to fix the problems, but they do not want to be inconvenienced by any of the changes. This is not just WCA students and families that are like this. Society in general wants certain things to change, but then do not want to be affected by the changes. Also, the administration knows that it is not everyone who is causing problems, but it is a large group of students. If students are not apart of that certain “group” then the changes should not change much for them anyway,” said Sefrit.

WCA will still have CB and JSB, but modifications will be made so that there is ample supervision and that it is clear about the standards and principles of the event before they happen. The school board and administration are in the process of redoing these events, and they are still working through what they will look like in the future.

Guests and alumni are not allowed at these events anymore for a couple of reasons. Only Westminster students can attend so that each student will be accountable for what they do.

“Guests who come do not understand the context or purpose of these events. The purpose of CB is for WCA students to get together and enjoy a fun night as a student body. The purpose of JSB is for the juniors to recognize the seniors. Guests sit through the skits, videos, and slideshows and do not know anyone in them because it is meant for Westminster students,” said Tim Hall, Upper School Dean of Students.

In addition, the administration heard a lot of complaints about guests/alumni’s behavior and with the number of guests increasing that could bring about more problems at future events if they did not get a grip on it.

“At CB this year, one out of every five people that came were guests. When a lot of the kids are not WCA students, it makes it harder and harder to control what happens there,” said Hall.

The focus of the administration is to strengthen the Christian home/church/school partnership. They want the students to have fun and are not trying to ruin the event for anyone, but action has to be taken so that Christian morals and values are upheld. The leaders of the school want to clear up the blurry lines of these events and make it more black and white on what it should be like.

Some students understand why the administration has taken these steps because they have seen some of the bad behavior and the repercussions from those mistakes. Others are extremely upset because they have a girlfriend or boyfriend from another school that they were planning on bringing.

“I’m against the changes because I feel that the entire school should not be punished and regulated because of the acts of a small group of people. These regulations will not change anything. Also, I have no idea why guests and alumni are banned from events now. Our own students are the problem, not the guests. I was planning on asking my girlfriend, but now I probably wont go because it would not be right to ask someone else. Because of this, I have to miss out on my last JSB of high school and a night with all of my friends,” said Ben Mitchell, senior.

Because Westminster does not have prom or homecoming, students look forward to these events, so it has become the hot topic.

Either way, the administration is in a tough position. They want to work with the parents, avoid complaints and problems, and make sure the students are behaving in the right way. Meanwhile, they want the students to be happy and still be able to have these events. They are trying to find the happy medium that will work best for everyone. However, it is impossible to please everyone.

“I understand why the changes are happening. Particular groups of students have consistently pushed their boundaries, giving the administration no option but to impose more strict rules. The whole student body is being disciplined now because of the bad decisions of a few groups,” said Caleb Krumsieg, junior.

The administration realizes that there will be people who fall on both sides of their decision, but they have been pleasantly surprised by how much positive feedback they have been receiving for the decisions that have been made.