Grinding Officially Banned From Kansas High School’s Dances

Grinding has officially been banned from Haven High School’s dances in Haven, Kansas, and before you ask, no not the kind of grinding pictured above.

(Image chosen for sensitive eyes.)

The announcement came with shock and a brief description from WIBW, which referred to the practice as students dancing “back-to-front with the person in back making a grinding motion,” the news site noted.

(In case you didn’t already know.)

Apparently, this sort of thing has been happening at the school’s dances for quite some time and administrators, ready to follow the lead of other area schools, decided it was time to put a stop to it.

Bobbie Rohling, a school board member, referred to grinding as an “X-rated” form of dance and believes that too much of it is going on.

That statement was slightly contradicted by the school’s principal in comments reported by Hutchinson News.

“It’s not really a problem,” said Principal Marty Nienstedt in a school board meeting Monday night. “We just had parents who were concerned.”

Hutch News also pulled out the handbooks of other area schools that had decided to take the big step of banning the grind. The regulations include the following:

“Inman USD 448: ‘Dancing must be face to face.'”

“Goddard USD 265’s Goddard High School: ‘All dancing must take place with students facing their dance partner, with appropriate space between the bodies.'”

“McPherson USD 418: ‘Students dancing together must dance facing one another and there must be space between them. (Face to face and there must be space!) The exception would be a slow dance. However, on a slow dance the hands must stay above the waist level. Students also are not to congregate in a tight pack on the dance floor area.'”

(See what overregulation does, kids?)

Dane Baxa, director of community relations for Goddard USD 265 told Hutch News that the face-to-face requirement goes back nearly a decade, but that it has not needed to be enforced for quite some time.

As you might imagine, the kids have a problem with this, but it’s being wildly received by parents, with one parent of a Hutchinson High School student declaring, “I wish Hutch High had this rule.”

What do you think about the decision to ban grinding from the high school dance floor, readers? Does it show a needless mistrust of students, or is it a good (and much-needed) call? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via ShutterStock]