You know it’s coming — the dresses, tuxedos, limos — the works. It’s time for the high school prom.

My senior prom was a mild affair. Nothing out of control. For a large graduating class things were kept pretty minimal. I don’t recall talk of any crazy after-prom parties. No one showed up in monster-limos and barely-there gowns. And everyone escaped prom night unscathed. My butt, and those of 4 of my girlfriends, had to be back at my parent’s house at 1am. My parents didn’t rent a hotel room for me and my pals. I didn’t have carte blanche to stay out all night because it was prom.

This was a mere 8 years ago, but after watching a TV special on proms, I realize how drastically things have changed. The event has become a big bucks, big deal bash. I’ve listened to kids at a local high school gabbing about prom night — they’ve been scoping out dresses that cost nearly as much as my mortgage. They’re booking transportation that put my wedding fleet to shame. And they’re prepping for a wild night free from adult supervision.

Now underage drinking is no shock to me. Neither are after parties. But things have just become so out of control. There is much easier access to drugs, party locales, and booze.

I certainly do not want to be on the receiving end of some drunk high-schooler behind the wheel on prom night, but I don’t really know what the solution is. Parents have to be more vigilant. Law enforcement agencies have to be on high-alert. The hospitality industry, which stands to make bank during prom season, has to put the breaks on renting out rooms to kids looking to cut loose after prom.

But what role does the school play after the dance ends? I know of one high school that has banned the prom due to the increase in drinking and driving incidents, drug use, and over the top after parties.

I don’t believe in punishing the group because of careless acts of the few, but are parents and schools doing enough to keep kids safe? Is this one of those situations where kids will just find a way to do what they want?

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In a shocking leap into the 20th century, Turner County High School in Ashburn, Georgia just held its first integrated prom. Previously, despite the school itself being integrated, white students raised funds to hold their own private party prompting black students to do the same. This was the first year that senior class officers moved to hold one official prom and invite all students. The decision comes on the heel of the school abandoning the crowning of separate black and white homecoming queens last fall.

No, this isn’t some “this day in 1950s history” post, this just happened over the past weekend. I know in my neck of the woods, Chicago certainly still deals with the issues of race and segregation, but my god I must live in a bubble because I am shocked that this kind of blatant racism still exists in this day and age. Of course I realize there are plenty of individual racist pricks out there, I’m not completely naive, but to think an entire county would condone this is almost incomprehensible to me. The county’s school superintendent was quoted by the AP as saying, “I couldn’t be more proud of these young people. The changes needed to come from the student body.” Because it seems it sure won’t be driven by their parents or the school administration.

While this is certainly forward progress for this backwater town, it apparently is just a baby step. Only two-thirds of the upper class attended the prom, the majority being the black students. A number of white students still threw their own private party a week earlier.

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