Proposal Seeks to Cut Price of Proms : Students Would Be Asked for Ideas on Costs, Alternative Activities

A proposal to make the senior prom less flashy--and much less expensive--was approved Thursday by a committee of the Los Angeles Board of Education.

In the past few years, expenses associated with the traditional graduation dance have skyrocketed. Ticket prices for a couple range from $70 to $110, according to a recent district survey. Add to that the cost of dresses, tuxedos, flowers, photographs, limousine rentals and after-prom activities, and the total can hover around $1,000.

“It doesn’t matter if it is in the poorest area of the school district or the richest area of the school district, it’s all the same,” East San Fernando Valley representative Roberta Weintraub said. “There doesn’t seem to be any limit on how much is spent on the prom.”

Parental complaints about the costs led Weintraub to introduce the resolution that would require seven district high schools to establish student committees to develop ideas on how to reduce prom costs. The teen-agers will also be asked to identify activities that could replace the off-campus dance.

“We’re not trying to legislate prom activities, but without bringing this issue to the forefront for discussion, we’re not going to get anyplace,” Weintraub said.

For the most part, students are opposed to the prom alternative measure. Weintraub said she has received dozens of telephone calls from outraged students.

“I think having a rock concert or something like that instead of the prom is a bad idea,” said Elsa Reyna, senior class president at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills. “Everyone looks forward to the prom.”

But parents, many reeling from bills associated with the dance, argue that a replacement must be found or, at the very least, costs must be reduced.

“There is so much peer pressure that, if we are going to do something, parents need some kind of backing from the school district,” said Donna Del Nostro, a member of a 31st District PTSA committee that reviewed prom costs.

Part of the reason for the escalating costs, according to teen-agers, parents and administrators, is an element of competition among students. Each year, the graduating class tries to outdo the previous senior class by putting on the prom that is more lavish than the last.

The schools have control only over the price of the tickets. Principals and senior class advisers said they work closely with students in making sure ticket prices are reasonable. Schools have no control over costs of activities that have grown around the prom. Pre- and post-prom parties, midnight trips to Catalina, limousine rentals, and in some rare cases, helicopter rentals, are now as much a part of the prom evening as are traditional photographs.

“If these things were held at the beach, we would have some kids arriving in their own tugboats,” Weintraub quipped.

The school board will take up the issue June 27. If approved, the student committees would be established in the fall. In January, 1989, their recommendations would be reported to the board’s Student Life Committee.

It also has not been determined what action, if any, would be taken on the students’ ideas. The high schools that would establish student committees to study how to reduce prom costs and suggest alternative activities have not been designated.

Weintraub said Supt. Leonard Britton supports her resolution, which is co-sponsored by board President Rita Walters. With Walters’ support, Weintraub said she expects the proposal to be approved by the entire board.

TICKETS TO THE PROM

COST/ SCHOOL HOTEL COUPLE Birmingham Century Plaza $110 Monroe Century Plaza 105 El Camino Real Biltmore 95 Polytechnic Marriott Warner Center 95 San Fernando Sheraton Universal 95 Canoga Park Downtown Sheraton Grande 90 Kennedy Bonaventure 85 Reseda Biltmore 70

Source: Los Angeles Unified School District