Students can now rest easy: Homecoming is finally safe.

At past Homecomings, adults were in attendance, not as chaperones or supervisors, but as dates.

For years, homecoming has been an open event, allowing students from other districts and even graduates.

The district showed poor judgment in allowing these adults to attend the dance where there are minors, some as young as 14, present. That decision is now, at last, being amended.

Adults at the event pose unnecessary risks to students. Their presence can be uncomfortable and even intimidating, creating an atmosphere that does not belong at a school dance. Adults may also bring safety concerns, such as alcohol or other prohibited items, and they could exploit students in a space where they should feel protected.

After polling parents in May 2025, the district decided that graduates would no longer be allowed to attend the Homecoming event at EHS.

The district is finally acting to protect students, siding with the majority over the few who could pose risks.

It’s disappointing that it took this long for the various administrations to realize that something was wrong, given Illinois’ legal context.

Illinois is one of 20 states that do not currently have “Romeo and Juliet” laws.

These “Romeo and Juliet” laws are written as close-in-age exemptions, meant to keep teens from being charged in relationships where one partner is 15 or 16 and the other is a few years older. In practice, that can mean a 15-year-old dating an 18-year-old without the older teen facing consequences.

Illinois law leaves little room for close-in-age relationships, taking a firm stance against these laws.

The state has already acted to protect kids. Now the district has finally followed suit.

This decision is progress, the kind that reduces risks to students. A long overdue step in the right direction.