Officials at Rumson-Fair Haven High School in Monmouth County, New Jersey, cancelled the annual tradition of electing a king and queen of the school to be presented at the school’s homecoming football game.
In the days leading up to Friday night’s game, RFH teachers and administrators discovered that the students had rigged the vote in order to embarrass two students who may not have otherwise been elected together.
The prank would be complete when the unlikely duo appeared together at Friday’s homecoming game.
Several parents spoke to WABC about the decision to cancel the traditional fall activity.
“It’s disappointing that they would be mean-spirited to other students,” Jennifer Sullivan said.
Another parent commented that the whole ordeal was sad.
That same parent’s son said that cancelling the event was overall a loss for the school.
“It’s tradition, there’s no point in cancelling it,”Joseph Sestito III said.
Superintendent Pete Righi didn’t show much sympathy for the cancelled tradition and explained to Red Bank Green that there would be no tolerance for “mass bullying.”
“They’ve rigged the voting,” Righi said of the students. “I’m frankly embarrassed that it happens.”
According to Righi, it seemed unlikely that the school would explore future homecoming games, and that he believed the tradition had “outlived its usefulness.”
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