Alexander Lee
Editor-in-Chief

Despite the numerous attempts to overturn the grinding ban by students of all grades, most efforts thus far have been fruitless. Students have tried petitioning, confronting the administration, and threatening to boycott dances altogether, all of which have had negligible effects.

On Tuesday this week, sophomore and member of student council Glynn Johnson added another chapter to the WA grinding saga. Unlike those protestors before him, Johnson approached the grinding ban through the formal way to change a school rule as stated by the student handbook. He became the first student to do so in this long struggle.

To officially propose a change in the school rules, a student has to cite the current rule in the student handbook, submit listed signatures of students who want a change to the rule, state a reason for the displeasure, and possible solutions.

In his proposal, Johnson used the often cited arguments against the grinding ban: first, that a grinding ban was unfair, and second that a grinding ban would significantly decrease the funds of a club. As required, Johnson offered possible solutions. One possible compromise was allowing grinding only at certain sanctioned dances. The number of these dances would be limited, so that the school could transition into the ban.

Johnson’s overarching theme was that a sort of transition was necessary, and that the outright ban was too radical.

Johnson brainstormed these possible solutions over the past two weeks, and he submitted the finished document to the administration on Friday. He had a meeting on Tuesday with five student representatives, two teachers, and the deans.

Johnson said that the meeting “went pretty well” and that Student Council President Christian Yip “was a great presence at the meeting”.

Principal James Antonelli will have the final say on this topic.

Despite these efforts, the future of grinding at WA still remains unclear. There have been so many efforts to overturn the ban, that much of WA is skeptical about the outcome.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to work,” said student council representative and senior Thomas Yorke.

Meanwhile rumors about the Halloween Dance run wild. Though DECA advisor John Rogers made it clear that grinding will not be allowed at the dance, some DECA officers say that the rules will be more relaxed and that people won’t be asked to leave if caught grinding.

Whatever the case of Glynn Johnson’s proposal, his efforts are significant to negotiation between the students and the administration.