While Marysville juniors and seniors will have a prom this year, it won’t take place in the elegant ballroom of the Bridgewater Event Center in Powell, shown above. District officials have opted to hold the prom on May 1 in the high school field house, broken into individual session for juniors and seniors. Students will also be asked to remain with one group of 10 friends throughout the night. (Photo submitted)
Event will be held in field house
Marysville juniors and seniors will have the opportunity to have a prom next month, even if it doesn’t quite resemble events of the past.
“There are some pretty strict guidelines,” Marysville Superintendent Diane Allen told the board of education at a meeting Thursday night.
After canceling the 2020 event, district officials surveyed students this year in an effort to try to craft a prom that met some expectation of teens while still holding to safety guidelines in place because of COVID-19.
For the past several years the prom was held at the Bridgewater Event Center in Powell. Allen explained that challenges in working with another county’s health regulations led district officials to also consider a local option.
A letter from the district sent to families Thursday explained that a survey given to students laid out two scenarios, one at Bridgewater and one at the high school. The respondents were evenly split, according to the letter.
“Due to the low number of respondents for both, we were left with the inability to meet the costs associated with the Bridgewater event,” the letter reads.
The district is moving forward with a prom at the Marysville High School Field House on May 1. Dancing will be allowed at the event, but other details are very different from years past.
“I think its a huge undertaking,” Allen said.
Juniors and seniors will have two separate sessions. The junior event will be held from 6-8 p.m. while the senior prom will be held from 8:30-10:30 p.m. Couples comprised of a junior and senior must choose one session to attend.
Masks will be required and students must also decide who they would like to congregate with for the evening. Students will purchase tickets according to a seating chart with the group of 10 friends they would like to sit with.
The field house will then be taped off in color coded sections and students will wear glowing bracelets that coincide with the section they are to remain in with their group of 10.
Each session will be limited to 320 ticketed attendees. No guests from outside of the district will be allowed to attend.
“Our hope is that what we have outlined above will be a memorable and fun prom experience that also meets or exceeds all requirements from our local Union County Health Department,” the letter reads.
Allen explained that many of the regulations in regard to keeping students in groups revolve around an effort to allow contract tracing should it be found that a COVID-positive student attended that prom. She said if all students intermingled, it would be nearly impossible to determine who that student interacted with.
“Is it going to make everyone happy? No,” Allen said.
Board member Dick Smith said there could be some apprehension about some of the restrictions but the district had a responsibility to maintain safety guidelines.
“It’s difficult to thread the needle, such as it is,” Smith said.
Smith said it is also important to mitigate any potential outbreaks ahead of other important events such as end of year banquets, sports tournaments and graduation.