PEARLAND – Parents are expressing their frustration with Pearland High School for limiting the capacity of this year’s homecoming dance, which they said leaves a large part of the student population feeling excluded.
“Why don’t you plan an event where everyone from the school is welcome to come?” questioned parent, Darcy Bryan-Wilson.
Bryan-Wilson has a senior that attends Pearland High School. She said her daughter has been planning for the homecoming dance on Oct. 8 since last year’s dance.
“She has bought a dress, she has had her nails done, bought shoes. Got a whole group together. They were really, really excited,” said the mother of two.
Bryan-Wilson said they even worked on creating a mum for the event for months. The only thing left for her daughter to do was purchase a ticket for the dance at the door, which the school had advertised on a flyer as an option.
“Two days ago, we got an email at 2 o’clock in the afternoon that they only had 200 tickets left,” Bryan-Wilson said. “They were only going to allow 1,000 kids to attend, which is only a third of the population of the school.”
In its initial statement to KPRC2 on Wednesday, Pearland ISD said it was limiting ticket availability to ensure safety and that “Pearland High School Homecoming dance tickets were available for sale for high school students only before school and during lunches beginning September 19.”
On Thursday, the district issued a revised statement that read:
“While parents and students were not notified of the limited number of tickets available, ticket availability was established in a similar way as previous years. Since selling out, Pearland High School administration has offered a lottery for 200 students without a ticket to purchase a spot.”
Bryan-Wilson said students quickly snagged the remaining 200 tickets for sale, but her daughter was among the lucky ones Thursday who got to purchase a ticket through the lottery.
“She did get a lottery ticket. That nice. She’s a senior,” Bryan-Wilson said. “She really really wanted to go, but some of her friends didn’t. I don’t know what homecoming is going to look like for her this year.”
Bryan-Wilson said she was concerned that students who were unable to purchase a homecoming dance ticket would end up throwing their own parties, which could cause division between students.
Pearland ISD said it will also grant a spot to seniors and their guests to purchase a ticket for students who request one.