A group of Virginia high school students will no longer be able to attend prom after a venue change limited ticket sales for the annual event.
Midlothian High School prom tickets sold out within days of being available after school officials advertised the annual prom as a week-long sale to students, according to WTVR.
Students and parents at Chesterfield County Schools were stunned as they were not informed that tickets would be limited.
Some people were confused because they thought the senior dues they paid in the fall included admission to the dance.
“All seniors and their dates should get tickets to the prom,” one parent said, the newspaper reported. “I will definitely lose to these seniors.”
Another mother wrote that her son was left without a date because his longtime girlfriend “couldn’t allocate him a ticket.”
“Many seniors don’t have their own prom tickets,” one frustrated parent wrote. “There has been so much confusion surrounding this issue that the school has just stopped responding to this issue. I feel very sad for them.”
The prom, open to both juniors and seniors, was held on May 4 at the Hippodrome Theater in Richmond, Virginia. Approximately 26 miles northeast of the high school.
“My concern is why they decided to book a venue that couldn’t accommodate all the students and dates they wanted to attend,” one parent asked.
The change to the Richmond venue was made at the beginning of the school year as students requested a different location than the traditional Chesterfield Career and Technical Center, a post-secondary preparation institution within the public school district. .
According to WTVR, Principal Dr. Sean Abel said, “The reason for the location change is that the students wish to have their prom at a different venue, and without 18 months’ notice, the number of prom will be well over 700.” This is because there are very few venues that can accommodate this.” “We chose the Hippodrome based on very positive feedback from Deep His Run HS, which has hosted prom there for the past two years. Deep Run is a school the same size as Midlo.”
School officials claim only 10 students and 15 guests were unable to purchase tickets.
“I was looking forward to it and I thought anyone could go because there are only two grades,” Holden White, a junior at Midlothian, told the publication.
The government also highlighted that families were informed earlier this year that the new venue’s capacity was lower than previous years and that due to the venue’s fire protection capabilities, it would be unable to sell any more tickets.
While seniors were offered an early sale in March, juniors were only left with last week’s general sale.
“It’s unfortunate that families who have worked so hard to give their children a memorable prom are unable to do so because of this,” one parent told the outlet.
A waiting list was created for students who were unable to purchase tickets, but the school could not guarantee admission to the dance.
Abel’s letter to his parents concluded, “I am disappointed that I did not receive prom tickets, but I wanted them to fully understand the situation.”
