Posted on 06/07/2007 5:37:10 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Diploma Saga Takes Turn - Denied Students Lawyer Up
GALESBURG, Ill. (June 7) - Five students will get the diplomas they were denied when cheers erupted for them at a high school graduation, and school officials said Wednesday they would review a get-tough decorum policy.
The school imposed a no-cheering policy in an effort to restore decorum at its graduation ceremony.
Galesburg High School officials had said they would not hand over the keepsake diplomas unless they received apologies. But the stalemate over the diplomas and the media attention it attracted have taken valuable time and energy, they said.
Gayles listens to a question from a reporter Tuesday. An attorney took the students' case this week and threatened to sue the school district.
"It is time for the good of the community, the school district, the families and the students involved to move on," Superintendent Gene Denisar said in a written statement.
The diplomas were withheld because the school said cheering violated a school policy aimed at restoring graduation decorum. The students still were considered graduates on paper, but they didn't have a diploma.
Graduate Nadia Trent, second from right, said she's "just happy it's over." But she added, "it would have been better" if the school had apologized.
Graduate Nadia Trent, who picked up her diploma from the school secretary Wednesday afternoon, said she's "just happy it's over."
"If they would have apologized, it would have been better," said Trent.
Denisar cited talks with the Illinois State Board of Education, which has said it cannot support the district's decorum policy because it makes students responsible for behavior they cannot control, in explaining the decision.
The central Illinois school district about 150 miles southwest of Chicago will continue efforts to make commencement a "respectful and dignified occasion that all graduates and their families can enjoy," school board President Michael Panther said in statement. Officials did not say how they planned to review the no-cheer policy.
Peoria attorney Jeffrey Green, who took the students' case at no cost, sent a letter late Tuesday threatening to sue the district if officials did not apologize and deliver the diplomas by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"They met with the families two or three times and had a chance to get this thing right," Green said. "I've been involved less than 24 hours, and now they have their diplomas, so you draw your own conclusions."
Parent Pam Kelley said she was disappointed that school officials did not apologize and that her daughter, Amanda, was handed the diploma by a high school secretary, not principal Tom Chiles.
"At least he could have come out and shook her hand and said congratulations," Kelley said.
My daughter’s graduation from UMSL was the same...like a WWE wrestling match.
Spelcheek melfuntenning?
I noticed several dads appeared to be inebriated which could have explained their enthusiasm. They may have thought they were at a NASCAR race or something.
“Show me respect” now means “be intimidated by me” or “bend over backwards to please me”.
Bend over backwards, not to mention bend over...forwards......
Agreed!
I agree, they should have used bricks.
Nah, if they were really nazis they would have taken hostages and shot them in reprisal after the untermenschen misbehaved.
Agreed. Mail em out & save the money.
I don’t think anyone disagrees with you but the issue is when and where. The noisy, raucous celebration should happen during the toasts at the celebratory dinner; or at home with all the friends and relatives; or in the parking lot. Cheering, shouting, shaking behinds, and standing up during the ceremony — for seconds, but sometimes minutes — is undignified.
There is a reason that graduates wear robes and mortarboards. There is a reason for a ceremony with diplomas. If graduation was just a party, with each “team” having a chance to make the loudest noise, then dispense with all the other trappings of ceremony. Just make it a party in the park, everyone wear t-shirts and shorts, and announce Junior’s name over a microphone.
I can’t cite statistics but I expect that the families of the valedictorians and honors students don’t go into cheering histrionics.
Consider for a minute a political debate. Audiences are allowed polite applause after answers. If the “sides” were allowed to wildly cheer their candidate after a good answer, we would cease to have a debate and would have nothing more than a shouting match.
There are lots of other examples:
* When a child gets his first Bible in church. Should his family cheer like wild animals?
* When a teenager wins a chess match.
* When a new pastor delivers his first sermon.
* Etc.
Keep wild cheering at the athletic events or, if you wish, for private time. Don’t ruin the beauty and ceremony of a dignified event.
“Don’t ruin the beauty and ceremony of a dignified event.”
A good post. I’m alarmed at the number of people who would not recognize class, dignity and respect for others if it slapped them in the face.
“The school nazis finally lost this one, after showing how dictatorial they are.”
Ummm, yeah. Gotcha. Enforcing civility rules at graduation = “nazi”. Gotcha. By your logic, America has been a nation of nazis for over 200 years.
I like it. The ceremonies are too boring anyway.
Sounds exactly like my daughter’s graduation a couple of weeks ago.
It isn’t that people make some noise when their kid is announced. It’s the crowd that doesn’t stop talking the whole time until THEIR child’s name is called and continues thereafter.
The fat asses that came in late are clomping down the stairs made of wood and it sounds like a herd of buffalo. This was in a huge auditorium at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports.
And as a side note, do all hispanic women have a rose tat on their right shoulder blade?
And they said last years graduation ceremony was REALLY bad. Ha! Glad I missed that little party.
I’m just glad the kids got their diplomas.
Just attended my son’s highschool graduation couple of weeks ago. It was somewhat raucous but at the same time everyone heard the names being called. The loudest were mostly the “lower class” types but one young man had 30 people there and they were totally obnoxious.
We were in and out in hour and 20 minutes.
Only those whose middle name is "Maria."
The others are required to have a lower back tattoo.
Funny. I kid you not, the four latino ladies sitting a couple of rows in front of us were all wearing strapless halter tops or tube-tops and every one had a tat on their right back area. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
LOL. You’re a funny guy.
Ha! Amen.
I’m pretty much 100% on the side of the kids on this one.
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