A Shelton High School senior has been banned from going to his senior prom for the way he asked his date to the dance.
James Tate and two of his friends went to the school before sunrise on Friday and posted letters on the school asking "Sonali Rodrigues will you go to the prom with me?"
Tate was hoping to do something special for his would-be prom date.
"I figured people would see the sincerity of what I did and the circumstance and congratulate me," he said.
She said yes, but Tate won't be accompanying her on the special night. On Tuesday, Shelton High School's headmaster informed Tate and his two friends they were being given one-day suspensions, and that they wouldn't be allowed to go to the prom because the trio trespassed on school property to post the prom proposal.
"'I'm a jerk because I was telling her for the longest time that I'm going to go with her, but I was waiting for a special way to ask her and this is what happens," Tate said.
Tate and his mates were told they also created a safety risk by what they did.
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"I had one friend hold the ladder while the other put double-sided tape on the letters," said Tate. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again for me and I'd like to go to prom very much with her."
According to school policy, any student suspended after April 1 is barred from the prom.
"I tried to appeal, tried to just get a detention instead. I even offered to do community service," Tate said.
But the headmaster would not budge, Tate told the Connecticut Post.
"I am aware of the local, state and national media attention surrounding the situation and I have no further comments regarding the matter at this time," Supt. Freeman Burr said in a statement issued.
Supporters have created a Facebook page urging school officials to allow Tate to go to the prom.
He's also becoming incredibly popular on Twitter. There have been hundreds of #teamtate tweets in support of him going to prom.
