It’s prom season, usually a time filled with touching stories of a joyous rite of passage… Unfortunately, today’s story is more like a nightmare after a school in Tennessee denied prom tickets to a student with cerebral palsy.
She has her dress, her date, and an extensive hair and makeup plan. It’s all in anticipation of her high school prom, but a Middle Tennessee teen was denied tickets over circumstances she can’t control….she has cerebral palsy.
Ashley Hamblin is a senior at Cheatham County Central High School. She said when she went to buy tickets to the prom she was told it was illegal. The school district said its part of their homebound policy.
A statement to a local tv station reads:
The Cheatham County School District’s top priority is to ensure all students are exposed to a challenging and safe educational experience.
One of the guidelines states, ‘The doctor recommends homebound services for a student who is unable to attend school due to serious illness or injury. Therefore, the student placed on homebound should not return to his/her school, or any other Cheatham County School for any reason, including extracurricular activities.
Ashely’s response…..“I am sorry you deem me too sick to come to prom.”
Ashley’s grandmother Glenda Turner said she’s taking it worse than Ashley calling the decision “very hurtful, adding It makes you angry. But it’s happy in a sense because I know just by talking to her she’s OK with it and it makes me proud of her.”