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Connecticut High School Student Barred from Prom for ‘Controversial’ Invite
A gesture meant to be romantic resulted in the suspension of three high school boys
Romance is alive and well at one Connecticut high school. Unfortunately the chances of a happy ending are less Hollywood and more, well, high school.
James Tate and two friends posted foot-tall cardboard letters outside of Shelton High School last Thursday night that read: “Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to the prom with me? HMU –Tate.” (HMU translates to hit me up, or call me.)
The good news: Somali said yes.
The bad news: Tate and his friends were given one-day in-house suspensions and barred from attending the prom as a result of the creative invitation.
“I was telling her for the longest time that I was going to go with her, but, you know, I was waiting for a special time, special way to ask her,” Tate told Fox News. “And then I did that, and this is what happened.”
Tate said he was told by high school officials that the posting constituted trespassing and a safety risk. While he can appeal his punishment, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Department of Education said attending the prom is a privilege and students are expected to follow the rules if they want to participate.
“I think it was not handled correctly,” Tate’s mom said to Fox of the school’s response. “There should have been other ways to handle the situation. He just wanted to make a great impression on this girl.”
For his part, Tate, who will attend Syracuse University in the fall, and who has become the subject of a Facebook page started by others encouraging the creation of an alternative dance, said he was sorry for the violation and that he primarily wanted to get his friends out of trouble.
It’s hard to believe that of all the irresponsible and stupid behavior that comes out of high school, that this harmless gesture resulted in suspensions and actual punishment. If these kids are the biggest problems at this high school, it seems like the administrators should be laughing and slapping wrists instead of wasting their time meting out prom penalties.
Do you think Tate should be allowed to attend the prom?
Image: Fox CT
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11 Comments
Sara commented on May 11 11 at 10:39 amThis is the type of thing that screams for creative punishment. Why don’t they make him set up for the prom or help out the janitor for a couple weeks and let him go to his prom.
Amanda commented on May 11 11 at 10:42 amIt’s sad that it seems like so many school bureaucrats are basically mindless drones who follow their stupid zero-tolerance procedures to the letter.
Ashley commented on May 11 11 at 10:46 amWow, that’s pretty harsh. Let the kid go to the prom already! Jeez!
Diera commented on May 11 11 at 10:48 amCardboard letters constitute a safety risk? What were the students going to do, choke on them?
Meredith Carroll commented on May 11 11 at 10:50 am@Diera — LOL. Literally.
Meagan commented on May 11 11 at 11:36 amMaybe the sign was posted somewhere high, where they had to climb to get to it? I’m just trying to figure out how this could possibly be a safety issue, as that is the only grounds I can see for this to be a reasonable punishment. I mean, if they were scaling a wall and precariously perched 20 feet over the pavement, it makes sense to me that school officials wouldn’t want to encourage it. The story just says it was posted by the main entrance though… so it’s hard to see HOW this is a safety issue. As for trespassing… come on, get real! Unless the story is leaving something out, this just sounds stupid. I also liked this tidbit at the end of the Fox News story: “6 other seniors and I had our prom privileges taken away from the elevator incident last week.” Even though the sort of explain it, that just sounds so vague and draconian.
Andrea commented on May 11 11 at 12:45 pmCreative punishment time, indeed. I like the idea of making these kids help the janitor for a couple weekends, or doing some other distasteful project that no one at the school wants to do?
Aoharu commented on May 11 11 at 12:59 pmI really don’t see the problem at all. I don’t think he needs to be punished.
goddess commented on May 11 11 at 1:23 pmITA with the creative punishment approach. This was not done with malice, did not damage anything. There’s got to be a better way to make a point.
Kelly commented on May 12 11 at 1:31 pmI think the school is trying to discourage students from using the school as a medium for prom invites. In this specific situation the student pasted 12″ high letters to the brick on the side of the building. The school obviously saw this as trespassing and a safety issue as the letters were put up at night when the school was closed.
The school is obviously trying to nip ideas like this in the butt. I don’t think barring the student from prom was necessary – suspension or after school community service would have been more fitting.
Monica commented on May 12 11 at 2:32 pmBeing from CT while I totally disagree with this punishment as it does not fit the crime, I think the school had a very knee jerk reaction. You see Shelton schools have been in the news a lot lately. Bomb threats causing school to close, a teacher resigning for misconduct, kids getting stuck in the elevator, and a fire. So they’ve had their share of issues this year and unlike the bomb threats they had a clear violator here. However, this is a good kid. Honor student on his way to a good college and seemingly a pretty good kid. More concerned about his friends than himself. This might be one of those times where they need to look at the student as an individual and not an example. And obviously this has led to lots of negative feedback for the town yet again. Something they don’t really need anymore of.
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