ATLANTA -- Several parents were thrown out of their children’s graduation ceremony Thursday night.

The incident happened at the commencement for Maynard Jackson High School at the Atlanta Civic Center. Other parents said about two dozen people were thrown out.

The school told CBS Atlanta the parents were asked to leave because they were disrupting the ceremony. But the parents said all they did was cheer their graduating children.

“I left before her name was called,” said parent Cullen Reid. “I was ticked off, I was really upset.”

Reid said police forced him to leave when he asked two officers who were arguing with another parent to lower their voices.

“To see your child walk across that stage is a happy occasion and you can't cheer? That's ridiculous,” Reid said. “It wasn't even a big distraction. They kept calling out the student’s names.”

A spokesperson for Atlanta public schools said their policy was made clear at the beginning of the ceremony -- guests who refuse to comply with the request to be respectful to the other graduates and persist in disrupting the ceremony are escorted from the auditorium.

The spokesperson said the school system stands by its rules. Officials said the yelling and cheering makes it tough for guests to hear the names of all of the graduates.

“Our plan was to cheer, but I had to contain myself because I didn't want to be ejected,” said another parent.