Rosie O'Donnell's class bash won't include spouses

Leave your cutie patooties at home.

That's the message Rosie O'Donnell sent to fellow classmates of Commack High School South in Long Island, N.Y., when she said that spouses or significant others could not attend the upcoming 20th reunion she is hosting.

And with the May 5 party for the Class of 1980 just a couple of weeks away, some excluded spouses feel tossed aside like the Koosh balls O'Donnell lobs into the audience during her daily talk show.

"How can spouses not be invited? We are a part of this person's life for the years since graduation," said Nancy Stokking of Goldsboro, N.C., whose husband, Michael, was in the 1980 class. Rather than go without her, Michael Stokking won't attend. "What a shame that something that is supposed to be a happy event has turned out this way," Nancy Stokking said.

The brewing controversy has been the talk of the class. While O'Donnell is picking up the entire tab for the reunion, classmates weren't given the option of paying for their spouses or significant others to attend. Spouses, though, have been included in a brunch sponsored by O'Donnell the next day for the 548 class members and their spouses or significant others.

The nighttime reunion at an undisclosed Long Island country club will be taped and shown on the talk show. "She wants it to be about the class," said her publicist, Jennifer Glaisek.

"Once people get in a room with Rosie O'Donnell, she doesn't want it to be about her," Glaisek said. "She wants it to be about her classmates and reminiscing and not Rosie O'Donnell being sighted by someone who has never seen her."

O'Donnell often mentions her hometown on her show, making the community almost as well known to her fans as her love of the catch-phrase "cutie," Koosh balls and, of course, Tom Cruise.

Commack grads learned when they recently received their invitations that spouses were not invited.

"When they agreed to come to this reunion, they agreed to a reunion that will be televised, and that is the rule around the reunion. If they are not happy about it, then go to the brunch with your spouse," Glaisek said.

Glaisek noted that no one had been planning a 20th reunion for the class until O'Donnell, who was class president, stepped in. So far, more than 250 out of the nearly 550 graduates have said they will attend.

"I am planning to go semi under protest," said one classmate, Steven Broome of Smithtown, who doesn't want to miss his reunion but thinks he should have been given a choice to bring his wife.

"A 20th high-school reunion is not on the same par as going to a wedding. It is a big event in people's lives, and most times you are allowed to bring your spouse," he said. "I think that it is wonderful she is doing that for her classmates. It would have been nice to have the option to pay for my wife."

All had to sign releases because the reunion is expected to be televised. Glaisek declined to say where the reunion was going to be held. A new location was recently selected and new invitations were sent out. . The no-spouses rule stands firm.