Teenager banned from prom and suspended for posting a sign asking a girl to prom

SHELTON, Conn. — Students at a Connecticut school have attempted a brief sit-in to support a classmate who was banned from the prom after posting an invitation to his prospective date at the building's entrance.

About 90 students held the sit-in Friday morning at Shelton High School, where administrators have barred senior James Tate from the June 4 prom.

Tate and two friends last week posted 12-inch-tall cardboard letters reading, "Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to the prom with me? HMU -Tate." HMU means hit me up, or call me.

Rodrigues said yes. But Tate was suspended when administrators deemed the stunt a safety risk and violation of school policies.

Story here.

WTH is this - a safety risk? Get real.

Discuss. Do you think the school was right or wrong to both ban him from the prom and suspend him from school?

That sign probably had sharp corners; someone could get a paper cut.harashawn

:lol:

Probably the principal when he took it down.:lol:

I'd say it's only a problem if the girl felt unsafe... jeremiah06

Yeah, she told the dude she would go with him, so I don't see a problem. A sign is a little unorthodox, but the school was way too harsh imo.

I know this is cliche, but come on, people really are only young once, and you're gonna stop him from going to prom over something as silly as this?ice144

Personally, I believe it's idiotic to bar the kid from going to prom over a sign. But somewhere, I think that there's more to the story that we're missing here.

that's embarrassing

i lost faith in humanity nothing suprises me anymore

100% right!

If he wasn't punished it would open the flood gates for students to do crap like this all over the school.

Sometimes you have to make an example out of someone.

Should have just asked him to take it down.Lonelynight

This.

lol a safety risk? Were these lettars 20 feet tall? Nope...12 inches tall...Were they put in the road? Noope...looks like they were in the yard...hmm...

Little bit extreme...I mean, its a poster...

He totally deserves it for not being man enough to ask her in person.

Do women actually like being asked in such an open and indirect manner?

100% right!

If he wasn't punished it would open the flood gates for students to do crap like this all over the school.

Sometimes you have to make an example out of someone.

Shadow4020

This.

Sounds romantic and something that is the making of a movie, but reality shows that if one gets away with it others will copy. Then you'll have all kinds of stunts going on, one more outrageous than the other.

I'm thinking he probably got the idea from this movie (skip to 2:03 if you don't want to watch the whole thing).

How is this even news worthy?chrisrooR

You should email the Associated Press if you really want an answer.:P

The principal is Jelly!

Should have just asked him to take it down.Lonelynight

I don't understand why they didn't do that :|

Seems like a really harsh punishment for something so miniscule.

SHELTON, Conn. — Students at a Connecticut school have attempted a brief sit-in to support a classmate who was banned from the prom after posting an invitation to his prospective date at the building's entrance.

About 90 students held the sit-in Friday morning at Shelton High School, where administrators have barred senior James Tate from the June 4 prom.

Tate and two friends last week posted 12-inch-tall cardboard letters reading, "Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to the prom with me? HMU -Tate." HMU means hit me up, or call me.

Rodrigues said yes. But Tate was suspended when administrators deemed the stunt a safety risk and violation of school policies.

Story here.

WTH is this - a safety risk? Get real.

Discuss. Do you think the school was right or wrong to both ban him from the prom and suspend him from school?

topsemag55

The penalties seem a little extreme, but I can see why such a practice wouldn't be allowed. You obviously can't have EVERYONE posting up flyers asking people out to the prom. And if everyone was allowed to do it, you'd probably have people fighting over the best spots to hang their signs.

Again...the kid's punishment does seem a little extreme, but I can definitely see why there would be prohibitions against the action that he took.

I know this is cliche, but come on, people really are only young once, and you're gonna stop him from going to prom over something as silly as this?ice144

In all fairness, it's not gonna kill him to not go to the prom.

In 10 years, he probably won't even give a **** whether or not he went to the prom.

Again...the kid's punishment does seem a little extreme, but I can definitely see why there would be prohibitions against the action that he took.MrGeezer

Personally, I believe it's idiotic to bar the kid from going to prom over a sign. But somewhere, I think that there's more to the story that we're missing here.

leviathan91

I still don't understand why they just didn't tell him to take down the sign and leave it at that :|

If it really bothered the school officials that much they could have made an anouncement telling students not to post signs afterwards.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"]Again...the kid's punishment does seem a little extreme, but I can definitely see why there would be prohibitions against the action that he took.Sunsha

Don't get me wrong...I agree that the more sensible and level-headed choice would be to just take the flyers down, give the kid a warning, and tell him that he'll be punished if he does it again.

I don't see the benefit in punishing the kid outright and making a national news story about this.

But on the other hand, he did break the rules, the rules are in place for a good reason, and his punishment probably isn't going to have much of a long-term effect on the guy. So I can't really feel sorry for him either.

Ideally, no one should even be talking about this since this never should have been in the news. The kid never should have done it, and the school probably should have started out with an option that was a bit more rational than banning the kid from the prom andsuspending him. His punishment seems totally excessive, and at the same time, he deserved punishment. Bottom line is that this just seems like a casing of losing the forest for the trees. Yes, the kid violated the rules and those rules are in place for a good reason, but somehow I think that the entire situation could have been resolved without ever having to go this far.

I read the title as "Teenager banned from porn and suspended for posting a sign asking a girl to porn."

And was like, damn.:P They were a little harsh on him though.

there's more to the story than what we are being told, but even with the information we don't know it's probably still a little too much punishment.

I don't see what the problem is, some schools make illogical decisions like this so it isn't too surprising.

I support the school in this case on the grounds that what he technically did was vandalism, even if the intentions were good hearted. even if it was just chalk, it wouldstill count.