Louisville school for students with disabilities hosts first prom since 2019

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - It’s officially prom season, and for the first time in three years, the students at Churchill Park School were able to have theirs.

About 50 students with disabilities were able to pack a gym and have a night they’ll never forget.

Churchill Park School cares for people with moderate to severe disabilities from ages three to 21. They haven’t been able to have prom since 2019, and the school went all out this year.

“It was truly built by our students and that’s what makes it so special,” Carly Phelps, an Academic Instructional Coach at the school said. “This is such a special place, and we’re a family, so we really try to build prom around that family dynamic.”

The students voted on a theme, made the decorations, and voted for a prom king and queen.

The theme this year: panic at the disco.

“We just received a text from a family of a picture of one of our students, staring out the window waiting for his date to pick him up,” Phelps said. “His date is actually one of our teachers here.”

The kids showed up and hit the dance floor almost immediately. There was nothing that was going to stop them from having fun.

Caroline Taylor’s daughter, Chloe, is a freshman at Churchill Park.

“She’s been wound up and excited about it all day,” Taylor said. “She feels very fancy. She had her hair and nails done by her teachers, and she’s having a ball.”

Taylor said the pandemic was rough on kids with special needs.

“Being back at Churchill Park, we feel very comfortable and safe, and it’s been a new community for us and it’s really been wonderful,” Taylor said.

Mark Robinson’s son, Kevin, is blind, but it doesn’t stop him from enjoying himself at the disco.

“One thing I know he loves is the music,” Robinson said. “If I could take him to the Louisville orchestra or something like this, because a lot of disco music is orchestral. I know he loves it, he loves it.”

Copyright 2022 WAVE. All rights reserved.