Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti believes there may be a 50 percent chance that James Tate will be able to attend his senior prom.
The Mayor told NBC Connecticut Friday night that the superintendent has the authority to overturn the headmaster's decision.
The superintendent has been meeting with both the board of education and with Shelton headmaster Beth Smith.
Smith continues to stand firm on her decision to keep James Tate from attending his senior prom.
Some students were sent home from Shelton High School after a short-lived sit-in to support James Tate on Friday morning.
At least four students were sent home, the Connecticut Post reports, and the headmaster accused them of civil disobedience, they said.
About 100 students tried to stage a sit-in in the high school lobby at 10:30 a.m. but administrators forced them away, students said through Twitter and text messages. They tried to move the sit-in to the gym, but they were stopped, told to go back to class and teachers were told to take attendance again.
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Students are also saying that passes are not being given out and they are not being allowed out of class.
There are reports of students chanting “Team Tate” out the windows to media gathered outside and one student who got in trouble with Tate was sent home from school for the day because he would not leave the sit-in.
Tate, a senior at Shelton High School, has become a social media sensation this week over administrators barring him from prom because of the way he asked.
The story of the senior who will miss his prom got attention on "The Today Show," as well as Jimmy Kimmel. The band "The Superficials," based in Nashville, is also paying attention to the story and wrote the song "Don't Hate the Tate."
In the darkness of night last Friday, he and a couple friends went to school and taped cardboard letters to the wall, asking Sonali Rodrigues to the dance. She said yes, but school officials said Tate and his friends trespassed and they were barred from prom.
In the days since, more than 100,000 people are supporting Tate on Facebook and Twitter, saying this punishment does not fit the crime.
“I feel like it’s gone far enough. I can’t wait for it to be over, in a way,” Tate said.
