For weeks, 11-year-old Azlyn Hobson buzzed with excitement for the Valentine’s Day dance at her Utah middle school. Two previous dances at the Laketown, Utah, school had been loads of fun, and this time she had a crush on a boy at school she hoped to dance with. But Azlyn’s enthusiasm waned when a different boy, who made her feel uncomfortable, asked her to share a slow dance.
Azlyn tried to politely decline the invitation, but the school’s principal rushed over and told her saying “no” was against school rules, Hobson said. “I just didn’t like it at all,” Azlyn told local TV station KSTU. “When they finally said it was done, I was like, ‘Yes!’ ” In an interview with KSTU, the principal denied Azlyn was “forced” to dance, but admitted the school requests students accept all invitations to dance.
The dances are part of a physical education curriculum that teaches the kids to do box step, swing, and line dancing. He added the school wants “to make sure no kids feel like they get left out.” In an email to Hobson, Motta acknowledged it was unfortunate Azlyn felt uncomfortable at the middle school dance. He suggested the girl tell him before the next dance if she does not want to dance with a classmate, so he can discretely prevent an awkward situation, the Tribune reported. Or, he continued, Hobson could pull her daughter out of school on days when dances were scheduled.
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