VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Despite the Volusia County School District cancelling prom and limiting graduation attendance, families are not giving up the fight just yet.

Parent​s and family members are expected to speak at Tuesday night’s school board meeting— armed with a petition signed by hundreds. 

Buffy Smith and her family are beyond proud of her T. Dewitt Taylor Middle- High School senior Micah Smith, but she is sad to see how his final year is ending. 

“Not having any senior events or homecoming and things like that it’s just been heartbreaking,” Smith said. 

After the district announced that prom was cancelled and that only two family members per senior could attend graduation at the Ocean Center, the same situation as the 2020 graduations, Micah’s aunt, Jennifer Strickland got involved. 

“We do feel like they are taking our choices away from us and the kids,” Strickland said. 

As most Volusia county students are back in schools, and many, like Micah, are allowed to play contact sports, Strickland felt that these decisions were hypocritical. 

“We can be pushing people over in football face to face without masks on, but they can’t dance together? That doesn’t even make common sense,” Strickland said.

That’s why she started a petition that in less than a week already garnered over 1,500 signatures. 

 “I think it speaks to how frustrated the whole community is,” Strickland said. 

They also got on the agenda for Tuesday night’s school board meeting, where the petition will be presented and Smith will be one of three speakers allowed to address the topic. 

“I am just hoping that they will realize how important this is of a moment for our graduating seniors and to rethink their decision,” Smith said. 

 School Board member Carl Persis explained that he’ll certainly listen. 

“I know what a tough year it is and our purpose on the school board is not to make their life miserable we really do want to enable them to have a fun end of the year event it’s just we are not quite there yet,” Persis said. 

While he explained that it is up to the Ocean Center to decide how many people they’ll allow inside for graduation, he claimed that if Volusia county's covid-19 positivity rate gets down to 5%, decisions could change. 

“I think if we can do that then maybe, maybe a month from now, I’d say around the middle of April that we could take a look at it and perhaps have new information and if we could allow a prom and other activities I believe that is what the school board will do,” Persis said. 

Until then, Smith and Strickland plan to keep up the fight— for Micah and all other seniors. 

“I don’t think we want to give up, I think we are going to continue and if we have to go higher to our governor, whatever we have to do I feel like this is worth the fight,” Smith said. 

Persis said the school board   will be keeping a close eye on the school’s COVID-19 dashboard after students return from spring break. 

He says over wi​nter break, they saw a spike inn cases about three weeks later. He is hoping that won’t be the case this year, so they can move closer to giving the families what they want.