An 18-year-old from Connecticut is begging her high school to let her boyfriend attend prom with her.
Earlier this month, Mikayla Perlotto asked officials at Torrington High School for permission to bring her 21-year-old boyfriend, Ethan Gleason, to prom. However, according to Perlotto, officials promptly said no, citing concerns about his age and potential ability to provide underage high school students with alcohol, according to local outlet WFSB-TV.
The school's student handbook does not have a rule explicitly barring people of a certain age from prom. But the bottom of a prom approval sheet does ban guests over the age of 20, according to Connecticut outlet The Register Citizen.
At a board of education meeting on Wednesday, Perlotto asked district officials to let her boyfriend, whom she met at the restaurant where they both work, attend the event with her. Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko told The Register Citizen that she plans to meet with Gleason first and then decide.
“I don’t have concerns with the person,” Kloczko told the outlet. “I just have concerns with the age. We’d like to meet the gentleman.”
Perlotto has also taken to Facebook to make her case. On a Facebook page called T-Town Torrington Chatter, Perlotto asked group members for advice.
“I understand completely that this is basically regarding the supply of alcohol, but this so called rule is not in the Board Policies as well as the High School's handbook policies,” wrote Perlotto. “How can I get a fair chance to show that we should be able to go to prom together?”
Perlotto told WFSB-TV that she will continue to fight to go to prom with Gleason, but if she cannot, she will attend the event by herself.
"[He] knows he's older, he doesn't know what else to say," she said, per WFSB. "He's trying to be there for me as much as he can."
Torrington High School is not alone in putting an age limit on prom dates. Around the country, schools have rules about attendees' ages.
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