As January came to a close, Oak Park High School prepared to host a dance for its students and those of nearby schools. Many students were prepared to go and dance the night away. The problem, Staley students didn’t have an administrative representative. Therefore, no Staley student could buy a ticket to the Black-Out dance.

For the price of one dance ticket, students at Oak Park  last year were given a white T-shirt, a dance lit up with nothing but black lights, and a chance to help cancer patients fight their struggle. Last year Oak Park hosted the Black-Out Dance to help “black out cancer.” The event was a larger success than the dance committee had expected, so much so that Oak Park hosted the event again this year.

 On Jan. 24, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., the second Black-Out Dance took place at Oak Park. They invited North Kansas City High School, Park Hill High School, Winnetoka High School and Staley to join them in the fundraiser.

“I was going to go, but I couldn’t buy a ticket,” said sophomore Jessica Adams.

She wasn’t alone. Staley students never had a chance to buy tickets because the event was never formally announced to the school. Principal Clark Mershon explained why.

“The event is certainly worthy to provide dollars for, and we are very supportive of any event that raises money for cancer. But we didn’t get the details about it in a timely fashion,” said Mershon.

 That was the only reason Staley students couldn’t get tickets, Mershon said. The school couldn’t pull things together in time on such short notice.