Today's images come from the annual spring formal dance, which was a rousing success. The text is a wandering rant on student leadership.

This week's assemblies have been dedicated to speeches by candidates for the position of School Leader. Each one was well-written and delivered with confidence, and while they convey personal differences, they seem grounded on similar basic assumptions. Basically, we love Proctor the way it is. We need to "keep Proctor Proctor."

With the transition to a new Head of School, communication between the student body, faculty and administration is vitally important, so that we don't lose what we love. Each candidate sees this communication as the critical role of the School Leader.

The fact that students want to protect the Proctor they know does not mean that people are completely happy with the status quo. A new policy limiting co-ed visitations to an hour and forty minutes on week nights has been the focus of student complaint since September, and the issue is bound to receive much attention at the end of the year.

Another sore spot is the policy that a "major violation" of school rules stays on a student's record for their entire career here, meaning that a ninth grader who receives a "major" could not receive another one in the spring of the senior year--even if for a completely different transgression--without being dismissed from school.

The results of the School Leader election will be known very soon. The next leaders will have a unique opportunity to work with Mike Henriques in his first year as Head of School. These issues, and others, will receive lots of attention, time and debate. Given the overall tone of the speeches, the prospects for compromise and progress seem real.