California High School Wants Teens to Cancel NFL-Style "Prom Draft"
Last year, a Southern California high school has started an unofficial tradition of selecting dates to the prom through an NFL-style draft, where the boys rank the girls—allegedly in order of hotness—and then draft their dates. This year, the school's administration has called for it to stop.
Kathy Scott, principal of Newport Beach's Corona del Mar High, sent parents a letter about the prom draft over the weekend, strongly discouraging students from participating. Because it was never a school-sanctioned practice, administrators can't actually prevent it from happening, and they apparently haven't threatened to cancel prom outright.
The draft is apparently a total meat market, with money changing hands to buy higher picks. According to the Daily Pilot, one junior spent $140 on a pick so he could go with a girl he barely knew.
"It's awkward because he spent a large amount of money to go with someone he doesn't talk to," the student said. "And she finds it awkward that he chose her."
Despite results like this, one student told the Pilot that "A lot of the girls respect the draft and stick with those dates."
Some female students were upset with last year's draft but "only because junior boys were asking out sophomores instead."
The prom draft shouldn't be shocking, though, considering the high school culture in Newport Beach. In the past five years, Corona del Mar has been sued by the ACLU over its "racist and homophobic" atmosphere, cancelled a production of Rent until public pressure got it reinstated, and faced a major cheating scandal.
"There's definitely issues at that school with certain students feeling entitled," Jane Garland, the school district's head of discipline until last year, told the Pilot.
"The culture in Newport Beach is ridiculous, and CdM personifies it."
Corona Del Mar's prom is June 6.
