Don't be too late - or you might be locked out and out of luck.

People looking to attend the Elmhurst and Northrop high schools commencement ceremonies tonight at the Memorial Coliseum are encouraged to arrive on time after a snafu at North Side High School's ceremony Thursday night left about 100 people locked out of the coliseum arena.

“It was a little spirited,” said Coliseum General Manager Randy Brown. “We had some people that were not happy.”

Fort Wayne Community Schools' policy is to at some point lock the doors to graduation ceremonies, according to FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman. Though schools may vary - North Side officials wanted the doors locked at the start of the ceremony - the locking of the doors usually occurs once the calling of students' names receiving diplomas begins.

That will be the case during tonight's ceremonies, according to Stockman, with Northrop's at 6 p.m. in the coliseum arena and Elmhurst's beginning at 7 p.m. in the Expo Center.

“We do that to create the proper atmosphere for when names are called,” Stockman said. “We want people to hear the kids' names.”

In the case of the North Side, Stockman said officials may have wanted the doors locked at the start of the 6 p.m. ceremony because of its brevity. The ceremony lasted about 45 minutes, Stockman said, whereas in the case of Wayne High School's ceremony the doors weren't locked until about a half hour in because of how long it took to get to the reading of students' names.

Brown said his staff was a little slow in locking the doors for North Side and didn't have them secured until about 6:10 p.m., causing about 15 minutes of commotion among the late arrivals outside the coliseum arena.

“Between our guest services and police officers, we maintained safety,” Brown said. “The officers and staff were courteous.”

Other school systems such as East Allen County Schools and Southwest Allen County Schools do not lock the doors to their ceremonies, so those attending Leo or Homestead high schools' commencement at the coliseum arena Saturday have nothing to fear.

Stockman said FWCS likes to keep the uniqueness of each school's commencement and give flexibility, but may look at the possibility of making the policy of locking the doors more uniform before next year's graduation.

“This is supposed to be a great time, and we don't want people to be upset,” Stockman said.