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Teen Asks Pal to Prom With Giant Sign, but School Bans Him From Big Dance
Filed under: In The News
It's hard enough for a lot of teens to get up the nerve to ask a friend to prom, so we imagine James Tate was brimming with confidence when he posted a 12-inch tall cardboard letters outside the main entrance of his high school that read ""Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to prom with me? HMU Tate."
Rodrigues said yes, but the school cried foul, suspending Tate and the two friends who helped him for trespassing, the Connecticut Post reports. Oh, and the prom is out, too.
Tate, a senior at Shelton High School in Shelton, Conn., posted the letters in the middle of the night, according to the newspaper.
"It took a lot of effort," he tells the Post.
Administrators gave the three teens one-day in-school suspensions and banned them from the prom, also citing a safety risk as a factor, the newspaper reports.
Tate, however, says he was cautious.
"I had one friend hold the ladder while the other put double-sided tape on the letters," he tells the Post, adding that he even wore a helmet.
Tate tells the newspaper school rules state that those suspended after April 1 don't get to go to prom.
"I tried to appeal -- tried to just get a detention instead," he tells the Post. "I even offered to do community service -- like cleaning up the litter outside the school. ... Now I have a date for the prom, but can't go."
As you might guess, Rodrigues isn't too thrilled with the reaction, either.
"This is ridiculous," she tells the newspaper. "James is one of my best friends and we are both good kids who never got in trouble. I've never been to the principal's office except to get an award."
Rodrigues, the Post reports, will attend prom with a girlfriend -- who is also dateless since her boyfriend was suspended for a different incident.
"This is really upsetting," she tells the newspaper. "It's our senior year and we are supposed to have happy memories, not something like this."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2011 @ 9:25AM
Michele Affronte said...Seriously? Kids do romantic things... this is what being young is about. I can see reprimanding him, but forbidding him to go to prom? I think your disciplinarians don't have enough REAL work to do. This is bad PR for you and your school. I hope you get your heads out of your posteriors.
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5-12-2011 @ 11:08AM
dougalcandy said...Speaking as an educator and a dean I say THAT PRINCIPAL IS OUT OF CONTROL!!! With all of the things kids do in school today such as bringing weapons to school, bullying, and general disrespect, she chooses to make an example out of a good kid who did a really sweet thing. I would bet that right now she is the most hated person in town and she deserves it. Punish him for trespassing if you must, but miss the prom? What an idiot!
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5-13-2011 @ 12:50PM
Tom said...As a juvenile court judge for 23 years, this appears to be a case of overreach. By now, James and his peers have learned a good lesson about consequences. A one-day ISS seems to be a sufficient penalty for this minor infraction.
After all, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the importance of once-in-a-lifetime events such as a graduation ceremony. "Everyone knows that, in our society and in our culture, high school graduation is one of life's most significant occasions."* The same may be said for a student's senior prom.
*(Lee v. Weisman, 1992)
Respectfully, Judge Tom. www.askthejudge.info tom@askthejudge.info
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