The decision to ban school dances at Cape Breton middle schools was partly due to the pressures that some students may feel at the social gatherings, according to one school official.

Donnie Holland, the co-ordinator of school services for the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, said when the board moved from a junior high to a middle school model, officials re-examined certain school activities. The shift saw Grade 9 moved from junior high and into high school, while Grade 6 joined middle schools.

"Considering that we now have 10 and 11-year-olds coming into middle school, it had been felt by some that the social and relationship pressures that may happen at these gatherings may be more than some students are developmentally able to handle," Holland told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday. "Some students may not be comfortable with school dances, they feel excluded."

The decision to ban school dances for the Grade 6 to 8 students was made following a visit from an Ohio expert on middle school curriculum in the spring.

"He didn't tell us one way or another what to do,” Holland said of the American expert. "It was a topic that came up."

He said it was decided that the dances could be replaced by other activities that are better suited to create a sense of community and a "positive student climate."

The decision affects about 3,000 students in 15 schools. Some of the schools had already planned back to school dances, which were later cancelled.

The dance ban has prompted one parent to start a petition asking the school board to reverse its decision.

“For the most part I think people want to see their kids socialize in that aspect," said parent Stephanie White, who launched the petition on Change.org.

"Some of the highlights of your junior high years were spent going to dances with friends and kids you wouldn’t normally get time to hang out with at school, you get that opportunity at a dance," White told CTV Atlantic.

The petition, called Let the Kids Dance, had more than 1,500 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

The petition points out "there is very little else” for kids in the area to do.

"There could be a lot of extracurricular things for kids to do in Ohio, but they're not here," White said.

With a report from CTV Atlantic