“Despite mounting pressure from city officials, state lawmakers and thousands of supporters on social networking sites, Shelton High School Headmaster Beth Smith Thursday refused to reverse her decision banning senior James Tate from the June 4 senior prom.
“Tate was suspended Tuesday and banned from the prom for posting a message Friday on the school building made with cut-out letters asking friend Sonali Rodrigues to be his date.
” ‘I expected it,’ said Tate of Smith’s refusal to reconsider her decision. ‘I feel like at this point the school had nothing to gain from giving in, but I’m disappointed.’ ”
“Tate also said he agreed ‘100 percent’ with Mayor Mark A. Lauretti’s statement that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
“School officials said what Tate did posed a safety risk and that he—and two friends who helped him—had trespassed on school property. His friends also received one-day, in-house suspensions.
“Smith made a terse statement at a 4 p.m. news conference outside the school reiterating the rules on school suspensions and prom bans.
“Smith, who took no questions from the media, said students were given plenty of warning throughout the year of what the rules were and that no exceptions would be made. Students who receive a suspension after April 1 are banned from prom.
” ‘These communications are intended to remind our students and parents of the high school expectations and consequences. This unfortunate situation is a result of one of those consequences,’ Smith said in her statement.”
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