EUFAULA, Ala. – An Alabama high school is making excuses for banning a student from bringing his grandmother to prom after a relative ignited a firestorm of criticism on Facebook about the decision.

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“My blood is boiling right now,” Sarah Catherine posted to Facebook Tuesday. “My little cousin Bryce wanted to take our grandma to his senior prom since she has never been. Well after she done bought her dress and made plans, the principal decided that they cannot do that anymore … Like Really?!

“Eufaula High School let my grandma go to prom!”

Bryce Maine said he invited his ‘nanny’ Catherine Maine to prom on his 18th birthday as a way of showing his appreciation for her instrumental role in his life.

“My grandma has always been an important part of my life, the only women figure in my life, so I was thinking in my head, why not take her?” Maine told WTVM, adding that his grandmother never got a chance to attend her own prom.

Maine said a school official later contacted him to shut down his plans, and provided a ridiculous excuse.

“I asked him, I said, ‘Give me one reason why,’ and he said, ‘alcohol,’ in case she was trying to distribute it to minors,” Maine said. “I’m heartbroken.”

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Catherine Maine was also disappointed, she said.

“I just thought it was so nice he wanted me to go, but I kept asking him, ‘Don’t you like to take someone else?’ and he kept saying, ‘no, I want my nanny.’ So I was just so shocked, privileged, that he asked me,” she said.

Catherine later updated her Facebook post, and launched the hashtag #letnannygotoprom that’s since gone viral.

“This has reached the board of education, and a teacher has called Bryce as well,” she wrote. “They think if he takes nanny to prom then future students will do it as a joke and make the school a mocker! And basically is wanting him to take this down. It ain’t happening!”

School officials eventually issued a statement about the episode that cited the school’s policy that requires attendees to be under 20 years old and blamed the decision to ban nanny on “safety.”

“Safety of students and staff is the first and most important of the many tasks of a school administrator. For the 10 years I have been high school principal, we have denied requests each year from students asking to bring older dates to prom,” principal Steve Hawkins said. “We do not chance leaving any stone unturned when it comes to safety. Most high schools have an age limit for prom attendees.”

Bryce Main told the media that if Hawkins won’t let nanny in, he plans to skip the April 8 event to enjoy a dinner and evening together elsewhere.

In the meantime, Catherine’s Facebook post is generating a lot of attention, with more than 2,300 shares and 500 comments, virtually all against the decision.

“Not allowing grandma to go to prom, and the ensuing bad publicity the school and district are receiving, is making a bigger mockery than any granny could ever hope to!” Melissa Cooper posted.

“If he had wanted to invite a transgendered kangaroo we would all have to understand,” Maria Morin wrote, “but some crazy deviant like his grandmother, we totally have to protect him from that!

“What is the matter with people?”