Granny Bought A Dress For Her First Prom, Then School Banned Her As Unfit Date

Here's one of those gestures that, when judged purely in terms of sweetness, will long be tough to match and forever impossible to exceed: High school kid asks his "Granny" to be his prom date, not because he's desperate but because he adores her. She's now 69 and he knows she never got to attend her own prom, so why not take her to his, right? He proposes with a one-word painting — "Prom?" — and Granny is touched to tears by that grandson of hers. Before you know it, there she is on Facebook showing off a brand new flowing gown she intended to wear to her very first prom.

One problem: The school has banned Granny from the big dance.

The school principal decided that Granny was subject to rules that forbid people older than 20 from attending the big dance because she just might slip a flask of booze into her clutch and God knows what other dangers she may pose.

"We do not chance leaving any stone unturned when it comes to safety," the principal said.

It's easy to fill in a few details about this story: The student's name is Bryce Maine, his grandmother's name is Catherine Maine, he is a senior at Eufaula High School in Alabama, and the ban by its principal, Steve Hawkins, has left both Bryce and Granny heartbroken.

Another aspect of the story is far more difficult to explain: the principal's unwillingness or inability to recognize that blindly enforcing rules, with no consideration of circumstances, can harm the very people those rules are designed to protect.

The ban on Granny, he has acknowledged, is based on a rule on page 44 of the The Eufaula High School Student Handbook, which states, in part: “The Junior-Senior Prom is a cherished event held in the spring of each year. Attendees must be under the age of twenty and/or should be enrolled at EHS. Non-EHS students who are planning to attend as dates must present a valid photo ID verifying their age prior to admittance."

The rule, the principal has acknowledged, is designed to keep students safe and not to crush sweet gestures or quash unrealized dreams.

His unwillingness to bend the rule given the context of Bryce's proposal has not gone unnoticed, not since Bryce's cousin Sarah Catherine expressed her outrage on Facebook.

“My blood is boiling right now,” her post began. “My little cousin Bryce wanted to take our Grandma to his senior Prom since she has never been. Well after she … bought her dress and made plans, the principal decided that they cannot do that anymore … Like really? Eufaula High School, let my Grandma go to Prom!”

With that, and the posting of the lovely picture of Granny shown above, the story went viral across social media and was picked up by CNN, "Inside Edition" and The Washington Post, among others.

“My grandma is the most important woman in my life and she’s never had a prom before, so I figured why not let her go with me,” Bryce told “Inside Edition.”

"Every woman deserves to go to a prom, no matter how old you are,” he told CNN.

And WTVM quoted Bryce saying this: "I'm heartbroken."

The school referred Patch to this statement released days ago by the principal.

“Safety of students and staff is the first and most important of the many tasks of a school administrator," the statement said. "For the 10 years I have been high school principal, we have denied requests each year from students asking to bring older dates to prom. We do not chance leaving any stone unturned when it comes to safety. Most high schools have an age limit for prom attendees.”

The Twitter world has spread the story using the hashtag #letgrannygotoprom accompanying comments supporting Bryce and Granny while bashing the school's decision. Among the milder opinions:

• "Schools reasoning is ludicrous! Should be encouraging youth to being respectful instead of discouraging! Idiots."
• "What a sad world we live in right now where a boy can't take gramma to school for a special day before she DIES #jerks."
• "This grandson is displaying love and empathy. We should be encouraging that behavior. #letgrannygotoprom."

While it appears Granny won't be attending the official prom April 8, her grandson is still planning a night she can remember.

“She’ll wear her gown and I’ll put on my tuxedo and we will get all dressed up, go out to a fancy meal, and have our own prom,” he told CNN.

That meal will likely be at the Eufaula Country Club, which Fox News says invited the two to dine on Saturday and maybe take a spin on the dance floor.

Photo credit: Tai Gray via Flickr Creative Commons