A Connecticut teenager who posted a sign on the front of his high school asking a girl to go to prom with him has been barred from attending.
Shelton High School senior James Tate and two friends posted 12-inch tall cardboard letters outside the school's main entrance, where everyone would see them going in last Friday morning.
The message said: "Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to the prom with me? HMU -Tate." HMU means hit me up, or call me.
Rodrigues said yes. But Tate and his two friends have been given one-day, in-house suspensions by the headmaster and barred from the prom.
Tate told The Connecticut Post that he was told posting the message constituted trespassing and posed a safety risk.
School policy is to ban from the prom any student suspended after April 1.
"I tried to appeal, tried to just get a detention instead. I even offered to do community service," Tate told the Post.
Friends of Tate have set up a Facebook page urging school officials to reconsider.
Headmaster Beth Smith had not returned a call Tuesday from The Associated Press seeking comment.