Boy Invites Granny Who Never Went to Prom as Date to His, Is ‘Heartbroken’ When School Forbids It

A teenage boy had the closest bond to his grandmother, and when he discovered she had never attended prom, he wished to remedy that. He invited her as his date to his, but at the last minute, his school barred her from attending.

In 2017, Bryce Maine was set to turn 18, and on his birthday, he wished to attend his senior prom at Eufaula High School (EHS) with his grandmother. When he discovered she had never attended her own, he asked his “Nanny,” Catherine Maine, to be his prom date.

The boy was so dedicated to his plan that he went to Walmart to get a canvas and some supplies to ask Nanny to be his date. The canvas was decorated with his hand prints in different colors.

In the center of the canvas, he wrote, “Prom?” and presented it to his grandmother. During a media coverage, Nanny revealed how excited she was to attend her grandson’s prom as his date and was “shocked” and “privileged” to be considered.

She even went out and bought a beautiful dress for the occasion. However, she and Bryce were unaware that that dream would be crushed by her grandson’s school soon enough.

The fact that Nanny never got to attend her prom wasn’t the only reason her grandson wanted to take her to the event. The main reason was much more touching and heartfelt.

Bryce revealed to the media that he chose Nanny as his date because she had been the “most important woman in his life” since childhood. He explained how his grandmother had always been an essential part of his life, adding that she was:

“The only woman figure in my life.”

Knowing that she had never been to prom, Bryce didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t take her along to fulfill her dream. Nanny even shared that she kept asking her grandson if he didn’t want to take someone else, and he refused.

While some of his schoolmates might have mocked and bullied him for his choice of date, what the Maines didn’t anticipate was that the school would be the deciding factor. When the administrators found out about the student’s prom plans, they contacted him.

The school told him he could not take his Nanny as his date, and when Bryce questioned why, he was informed it was because of alcohol. The institution worried Nanny might be trying to distribute alcohol to minors at the event because of her age.

Steve Hawkins, the principal of Eufaula City Schools (ECS), allegedly failed to give the student a straight answer when Bryce asked if he could take his grandmother as his prom date. The board of education allegedly believed if Bryce took Nanny as his prom date, other students would replicate his act as a joke and make a “mockery” of the school.

When asked to account for barring Nanny from the event, the school cited page 44 of its student handbook. The handbook noted how the junior-senior prom strictly limited attendees to below the age of twenty or those enrolled at the school.

Non-enrollee dates had to present valid identification to verify their age before attending. Moreover, students who planned on bringing non-enrollees as dates had to inform the prom sponsor two weeks before the event.

Those who bought prom tickets for their dates but weren’t preapproved to attend could forfeit their non-refundable tickets. If the school administration deemed an attire worn to the event inappropriate by violating the “decency and modesty clause” of the ECS Code of Conduct, that person would not be allowed too.

Hawkins said the safety of the staff and students was their utmost priority. He revealed that in his ten years as a principal, they had denied student requests to bring older people as their prom dates yearly. The principal said they didn’t leave anything to chance when it came to safety, adding:

“Most high schools have an age limit for prom attendees.”

The ECS also performed background checks on all school volunteers despite their age and checked if any school visitors were on the sex offender list. Hawkins said no ECS staff member had been contacted by a guardian or parent questioning prom attendees’ age limits.

The hashtag #LetNannyGoToProm went viral on social media, pushing the school to set aside their rules for the grandmother-grandson pair.

He noted how the school found out about Bryce’s situation through his cousin’s social media. What the school was referencing were Sarah Catherine’s Facebook posts where she exposed the institution for its stance against her cousin taking Nanny to the prom, ending the post by urging:

“Eufaula High School, let my Grandma go to Prom!”

The student’s father was called for a meeting and would attend when he was available. Bryce’s grandmother being barred from attending prom didn’t sit well with him, but things worked out fine in the end.

Bryce confessed to being “heartbroken” about possibly being unable to take his grandmother to his high school prom. He even contemplated not attending the event if she couldn’t accompany him.

In retaliation, Bryce and his Nanny vowed to dress up for a fancy dinner where they would make memories for the night. Meanwhile, the hashtag #LetNannyGoToProm went viral on social media, prompting the school to set aside their rules for the grandmother-grandson pair.

In response to the social media attention and calls for justice, school officials decided to help the local senior center hold its first annual banquet and dance. The officials, who might or might not have apologized to Bryce and his grandmother, hoped to take the sting out of barring Nanny by planning on calling the event “Senior Prom.”