Windham High School’s junior class broke with tradition last week and deposed the positions of Homecoming king and queen in favor of dual monarchs.
The decision to overthrow the customary offices and establish the new, genderless rulers was made after a friend nominated a male student, Dustin Blake, for the queen position.
Between the time nominations were initially made and the ballots were issued to junior homerooms last Friday, the committee of students who helped plan the Homecoming events along with their advisor, history teacher Ryan Caron, decided to change the titles of king and queen to monarchs.
However, many members of the junior class already knew about the nominations. And when the ballot came out, some of these students assumed they were still voting for a king and a queen, perhaps because of the way the ballot was designed.
Although the headline at the top of the ballot read, “Junior Class Homecoming Monarch Ballot,” and the instructions read, “Choose two individuals,” some students, accustomed from previous years to voting for king and queen, were confused by the way the names were listed on the ballot.
Instead of alphabetizing all the names of those running – five boys and three girls – and listing them in a single column, the committee chose to list them in two columns, with the three girls’ names and Blake’s name in one column and the other four boys’ names in the other.
Attempts to obtain the other names from Superintendent Sandy Prince listed on the ballot were unsuccessful.
Votes for the monarchs were counted over the weekend, and were to be announced at school on Monday. But, while Blake and a girl tied for total number of votes for the two monarch positions, a person or people involved in the counting process leaked technically inaccurate information, saying that Blake had been voted queen.
When contacted Monday morning, Windham High School Principal Deborah McAfee refused to comment on the results or to explain the ballot. She also refused to confirm or deny that the junior class elected a boy as queen.
“It’s a school issue,” McAfee said. “It violates a student’s right to privacy.”
Attempts to speak to the junior class advisor, Ryan Caron, were met with the same refusal.
“I can’t comment,” Caron said.
It was not until Tuesday afternoon that any official information was released to the public. Superintendent Prince provided a description of the ballot, which is noted earlier in this article.
In addition to confirming the ballot, Prince said that it has been the tradition of the school to have two individuals elected for each class. The difference for the juniors this year is that they went with two monarchs instead.
There are students, said Prince, who decline to run because they aren’t half of a couple and the contest is perceived by some to pair off girls and boys. For this reason, Prince believes this year’s junior class may have instituted a better option.
“I think that monarchs are more inclusive,” he said.
Windham High School’s Homecoming activities, including a parade down Route 202, are scheduled for this weekend. Although each class’ Homecoming royalty will be on the publicly viewed float and announced by name at the football game, Prince would not release their names for publication in this paper.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
