Schools

B-CC Administrators Aim for Safer Spirit Week Following 2011 Color Day Violence

"Blue and Gold" Day to replace "Color Day" in Homecoming Week lineup after reports of drinking and violence at the school last year, The Gazette reports.

“Color Day” celebrations as part of Homecoming Week at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School will be replaced by festivities that don’t segregate students into their graduating classes, The Gazette reports.

Color Day, during which students in each class color coordinate their clothing as part of Spirit Week activities, went awry last year with reports of drinking and violence.

Last year, police responded to reports of drinking and fights at the school. Freshmen hazing also was reported, with one parent tweeting that his ninth-grade son was doused in ketchup.

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B-CC principal Karen Lockard followed through with last year’s promise to cancel Color Day following the incidents, The Gazette reports. Students will instead celebrate “Blue and Gold” day as Spirit Week wraps up on Friday, wearing the school colors of blue and gold.

Lockard wrote in a letter home to parents that Color Day promoted class pride over school unity.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The seniors are not happy that Color Day has been eliminated, but they understand that this is a safety issue,” Lockard wrote in an email, according to The Gazette. “The increased enrollment at B-CC makes dangerous some activities that may have worked with a smaller student population. I love my students and my main job is to keep them safe. We can still enjoy the many other homecoming activities.”

Read the full story at The Gazette.

What do you think? Will replacing Color Day with Blue and Gold day make homecoming safer at B-CC? Tell us in the comments.


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