East Lyme — An East Lyme High School student recently took to the internet to rally for a more inclusive senior prom as the town slowly emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

The prom will be held June 12 at the Branford House on the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus, according to a letter sent to parents from Principal Deb Roselli Kelly. She said attendees cannot bring guests.

Senior Makayla Desrosier said word also has gone out that the school's Virtual Vikings — the district's name for those who have opted to learn remotely during the pandemic instead of going in person to the schools — will not be allowed to attend.

Desrosier started a change.org petition to allow guests and Virtual Vikings to attend the prom. It had amassed 179 signatures since it was posted last week.

For Desrosier, who attends school in person, it's a matter of fairness.

She said students who have been learning remotely are still part of the senior class even if they aren't sitting in desks alongside their counterparts.

"They're still doing schoolwork, they're still participating. It doesn't seem fair to say they can't go," she said.

The Virtual Viking program provides a third-party, online curriculum for families that aren't comfortable with in-person instruction in COVID-19 times.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Newton on Thursday said he had not heard about the petition. He told The Day it has been the protocol all year not to allow Virtual Vikings to participate in sports or attend other activities.

The number of remote learners in the program fluctuates, according to Newton.

"It's minimal, but I don't know what the current number is," he said. Students can decide to opt back in to in-person instruction at any point.

Desrosier's mother, Kristi, said the public health situation has changed since families opted into the Virtual Viking program at the beginning of the school year.

"Some of those kids that were put into the Virtual Viking cohort, they may have had a family issue a year ago. They may have had someone in their family or their household who may have been vulnerable. Or they were concerned about it because we didn't know a whole lot then," Kristi Desrosier said.

But now, with the state and country loosening restrictions on a wide scale as more and more people get vaccinated, she said some of those families may be comfortable allowing their senior to attend prom — and they should be accommodated.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week declared that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to socially distance or wear masks indoors or outdoors, with some conditions. This past Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont lifted the state's indoor mask mandate for people who are fully vaccinated.

Ledge Light Health District's supervisor of regulated facilities and housing, Katie Baldwin, said the health district still recommends keeping to smaller groups, social distancing "whenever possible" and wearing masks in large groups regardless of vaccination status, as well as screening students for symptoms before entering the event.

Makayla Desrosier said allowing seniors to bring guests is an important part of the prom experience that should not be tossed aside. "As a freshman, sophomore, even junior year, I asked if I could bring a guest to Homecoming, and every year they said, 'You can wait till prom,'" she said.

Newton said the decision not to allow guests was made at the high school level, which he supported "for the safety of all."

Kristi Desrosier described prom as one of the important milestones kids experience growing up. She said other key parts of high school life — such as attending sporting events or participating in pep rallies — have been curtailed by the pandemic.

"There's a health risk, I get that. But these are times and experiences they'll never have, ever. And you don't really get the concept of how important they are for these guys until you realize it's gone," she said.

Students at the high school had a hybrid schedule — which means half the students were in school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half were in school Thursdays and Fridays — until this spring. They transitioned to a four-day in-school schedule on March 22 and a five-day schedule on April 5.

The year has been marked by reduced opportunities for socialization because of scheduling and social distancing, Makayla Desrosier said. She pointed to shorter lunch periods, fewer opportunities to congregate with friends and even changes to the way students communicate with one another in the classroom.

"You can't talk very much, and when you do try to talk, the person next to you sometimes can't hear you, so you go to adjust your mask and you get yelled at for moving it, but it's all because the person can't hear you," she said.

Having a prom the whole class can attend that they can celebrate with their guests is "the least the school could do" to help end the year on a positive note.

"I just want a normal prom," she said.

e.regan@theday.com