News Photo by Crystal Nelson Sarah Anderson, co-owner of Glitz and Glamour Bridal and Gifts, sorts through the prom dresses at her store Friday in Alpena. Anderson said a few customers have come in to look at prom dresses and is hopeful students get to attend prom this year.

ALPENA — Prom is a tradition most high school students look forward to as upperclassmen, but the coronavirus pandemic is once again threatening to cancel proms across Northeast Michigan.

Knowing how important prom is to students, many area superintendents and principals are holding off on making decisions until more information becomes available.

Superintendents and principals with Alpena Public Schools, Alcona Community Schools, Onaway Area Community School District and Posen Consolidated Schools are waiting to make a decision about prom, while Hillman Community Schools and Atlanta Community Schools Superintendent Carl Seiter said the districts couldn’t hold proms under the state health department’s current guidelines.

Alpena High School Principal Tom Berriman on Friday posted a prom update on his blog.

“It is our hope to hold prom as scheduled, on May 8, but it will depend on current guidance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services,” Berriman said in the blog post. “Our hope is that COVID-19 and vaccination rates will allow the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to alter their guidance to allow us to hold this time-honored event.”

Berriman said current public health restrictions only permit an indoor non-residential gathering of up to 25 people with masks and social distancing as well as strictly prohibiting individuals to gather or mingle in common areas, such as a dance floor.

“The current guidelines do not allow our school to hold the event indoors but we are still working on the planning of the prom,” he said in the blog, noting opportunities for an outdoor event at a later date may be possible.

Alcona Community Schools Superintendent Dan O’Connor said school officials haven’t cancelled prom yet but have delayed a decision on the event because state pandemic rules are changing so quickly.

“We do have student council working on collecting some data from students as to what they would be willing to do to have as normal of a prom as possible but under the restrictions, and then try to make a decision in April at some point.”

O’Connor said administrators are currently focused on face-to-face education and graduation plans.

Onaway Area Community School District Superintendent Rod Fullerton said the district is in a holding pattern until new guidance comes out in April.

Meanwhile, Carl Seiter, superintendent of Hillman Community Schools and Atlanta Community Schools, said neither school district could hold prom under the state’s current guidelines.

“We might be able to have them get together and keep separated but when you start talking about a dance and kids not being able to mingle table to table, that’s pretty unrealistic for a prom setting,” he said.

Seiter said the current guidelines expire on April 19.

Seiter told the Hillman’s board of education earlier this month he could not stop students or parents from holding their own events outside of school.

Posen Consolidated Schools Michelle Wesner also anticipates events being held outside of school.

“We’re waiting, but I can almost guarantee you we will have parent groups that put it on without the school, which I think you’ll find to be the case with most school districts right now,” she said. “The regulations that we have to follow don’t allow us to have that.”

Rogers City Area Superintendent Nick Hein could not be reached for comment.