Concerned by Owen Labrie trial, New Hampshire high school cancels dances indefinitely
After years trying to police inappropriate behavior at school dances, New Hampshire’s Exeter High School has announced it will cancel the events, except for proms, indefinitely, citing the Owen Labrie trial as the final push that led to the decision, the Union Leader reported.
“For me, personally, the Owen Labrie case was the tipping point,’’ Superintendent Michael Morgan told the Leader. “I think we have to be prudent and I think we have to be careful and I think this is the responsible thing to do. I just don’t want to take any chances.’’
Labrie, 19, a former student of New Hampshire’s St. Paul’s School, was convicted in August of three charges of sexual assault of a female classmate as well as using a computer to solicit her and endangering the welfare of a child. Labrie was an 18-year-old Harvard-bound student nearing graduation, while the girl was a 15-year-old freshman.
For the past decade, Exeter, a public high school, has dealt with alcohol and drug use as well as grinding on the dance floor at the school events. While school officials have put dances on hold temporarily in the past, the highly public nature of the Labrie trial made administrators weary of bad behavior that could pose a danger to students, the Leader reported.
Read the full Union Leader story here.
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