Dispatches from Planet Prom

Without fail, prom season each year brings out the absurd in school officials.

In Cherryville, N.C., Shafer Rupard showed up at the prom wearing pants.

“The teacher tapped me on the shoulder and said she had a problem with what I was wearing,” Rupard tells WBTV. “I thought it was because of the hat or the leather jacket and I was like well I’ll take those off and she was like no, it’s the pants.”

Nothing in the dress code that accompanied the prom invitation said anything about pants, the principal admitted, though he still hasn’t issued an apology.

This follows last week’s brouhaha caused by a senior in Pennsylvania asking Miss America to be his prom date. For the crime, he was suspended for three days.

On the other hand, some schools get it.

Students at Lowell High School’s peer mentoring program in Massachusetts threw a prom for special needs students at area high schools.

One of the students said she was so taken by the effort that she’s decided to give up on the idea of being a journalist and now plans to be a special needs teacher.