LOCUST GROVE, GA (WCMH) – A single mom says her daughter was devastated when they were turned away from a school father-daughter dance.

Amy Peterson told WXIA she thought it would be memorable if she dressed up as a dad and took her daughter to the dance. She said school leaders wouldn’t let her inside since she wasn’t a man.

“I was trying to comply with the rules,” Peterson told WXIA. “I knew if I showed up as her mom, they probably wouldn’t have let me in.”

Peterson used mascara for a beard, wore baggy clothes and donned a bowtie and hat.

As Peterson and her 6-yer-old daughter Gracie were getting ready, she received a call from the school.

“An hour before the school principal called, saying she caught rumor that her (Gracie’s) mother was bringing her and she forbid us to come, and if we showed up we would be turned away,” Peterson said.

A school spokesperson told WXIA that the school apologized and offered her a refund.

“She screamed, ‘No, why? Why do I have to be the one missing a dad,’” Peterson said. “She was just excited that we were doing this together.”

Peterson is now calling for changes to the way this kind of dance is handled.