Let There Be Dancing, U.S. Judge Tells School in Missouri Ozarks

A federal judge said Thursday that his orders are clear: Let the dancing begin at a small Ozarks high school.

U.S. District Judge Russell Clark answered a request by school board members in Purdy that he clarify their responsibilities under his Aug. 1 decision declaring their century-old dance ban unconstitutional.

Clark said the ban at Purdy High School could not be enforced because it promoted the values of those who opposed dancing for religious reasons. However, in his original ruling, Clark said that it was not his role to order the district to hold dances.

Springfield attorney Ransom Ellis III, who represented the school board, said in a brief that board members “do not understand what the court is ordering them to do or refrain from doing.”

Clark said Thursday, “The school board should treat student social dances in the same manner as it treats other student activity on school premises.”

The judge said the school board may regulate the number of dances and take steps to see that dances are chaperoned, but “any rules or regulations promulgated must not have the effect of barring student social dances on school premises.”

“That’s beautiful,” said Joan Fox, whose daughter, Nancy, is Student Council president at Purdy High School. Fox and her daughter were among the 21 Purdy students and parents who challenged the dance ban in court.

Ellis was not available for comment Thursday.

The Purdy school system, in a town of about 900 people 50 miles southwest of Springfield, has about 520 students in all grades. About 240 are in the six-year junior and senior high school.