Prom is back on: Chattanooga area schools are mostly greenlighting dances, with some precautions

Apr. 16—A spring tradition for high school students across the country, many proms were canceled last year amid the coronavirus pandemic. This year, schools and school districts around Chattanooga have begun hosting the annual dances with varying levels of COVID-19 prevention strategies.

At Bradley County Schools, proms are underway and being scheduled similar to a normal year. Bradley Central High School's dance took place April 10, and Walker Valley High School's dance is April 24, said the district's community and communications coordinator, Brittany Cannon.

"So we've just looked at how we have handled this whole school year, and honestly we have been back full in-person since August, and any school that might have had to go virtual, we've taken it on a school-by-school basis, and honestly the only issue that we saw was right around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and since then, we have not experienced any issues or increase in cases," Cannon said.

Bradley Central's prom was held at an indoor/outdoor venue, and Walker Valley High School's prom will be held at Chattanooga Convention Center. The prom at Bradley Central went well, Cannon said, and so far no one has experienced any issues following the event.

Prom at Baylor School will take place Saturday at Tennessee RiverPlace, an outdoor venue. Masks are required but can be removed when taking photos. Additionally, there will not be catered food, tables will be spaced out for social distancing and there will be dancing, said Barbara Kennedy, director of external affairs at Baylor.

The school regularly tests students and faculty for COVID-19 at its lab on campus, Kennedy said, and officials tested the entire student body after returning from spring break.

"We're in a little bit of a different situation and have been just because of our testing ability," Kennedy said.

Cleveland City Schools' Cleveland High School will hold prom on May 1 at Museum Center at Five Points. The school has held prom at the museum for several years, said principal Autumn O'Bryan in an email, and the event will be indoors and outdoors. Masks are required indoors, and social distancing is encouraged, she said.

Prom at McCallie School will be for seniors only this year and take place outside on the school's campus on May 14. Students will be required to wear masks and social distance as much as possible, said school spokesperson Bill Steverson.

Classes have been conducted in a hybrid setting with most students on campus throughout the year, and the school is encouraging students to take the COVID-19 vaccine. About 100 students were vaccinated at an on-campus event this week, Steverson said, and the school plans to hold more vaccination events on campus.

"We're hoping that, not just hoping, but we're pretty confident that most of the students who will attend the prom will be vaccinated by that time," he said.

Hamilton County Schools will be going forward with prom for seniors, with certain mitigation strategies in place. Some of the guidelines the district sent out to schools include wearing masks unless socially distanced, holding the event at outdoor locations and serving only pre-packaged food, spokesperson Cody Patterson said in an email. The district returned to face-to-face learning five days a week in February.

Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy did not hold a prom last year and will not have one this year. Some students attend proms at other schools, but CGLA holds the dance on a year-by-year basis depending on what the junior and senior classes want to do, said CGLA CEO Elaine Swafford. The school alternated between virtual and hybrid models of learning before returning to in-person learning in March.

In Georgia, Catoosa County Schools will hold its proms in outdoor venues starting this weekend, starting with Heritage High School's prom taking place on campus on Saturday. The proms for Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School and Ringgold High School will be at Northwest Georgia Amphitheatre on April 24 and May 8. Masks will be encouraged but not required, Superintendent Denia Reese said by email.

Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.