R.I. school board seeks to end ban on dances

(AP) CRANSTON, R.I. - The Cranston School Committee is asking state lawmakers to change Rhode Island law to allow father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames at schools.

The Providence Journal reports that officials voted unanimously on Monday to approve the resolution asking for the change in state law.

District Superintendent Judith Lundsten ended the events beginning this school year to comply with a state gender discrimination law.

Federal law prohibits discrimination in education on the basis of gender, but the law provides an exception for "mother-daughter" and "father-son" activities as long as "reasonable comparable activities" are provided to students of the other sex.

Rhode Island law does not offer such exemptions.

Civil libertarians had complained on behalf of a single mother whose daughter had no father but was barred from attending a father-daughter dance.