A Very Costly Kiss: Senior Denied Diploma

Yahoo! Buzz ^ | 06/16/09 | Mike Krumboltz

[Artemis Webb]

For teens, there is no greater joy than graduating high school. Shaking off the shackles of education and claiming that hard-fought diploma is truly an epic day. Unfortunately, for several students at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine, their natural exuberance has led to some surprisingly serious problems.

On Friday night, when the senior class was waiting to graduate, excitement began to grow. Students bounced a large inflatable rubber duck. The noise level rose. And then came "the kiss." When called, one student walked on stage to receive his diploma and blew a kiss to his family. The school administrator, clearly not the sentimental sort, sent the student back to his seat ... sans diploma.

The seemingly harsh punishment has sent the Web all aflutter. Searches on "student denied diploma" and "bonny eagle high school" are both through the roof. Additionally, blogs and news papers are chiming in with opinions on whether or not the administration overreacted. The student's mother has given interviews and is quite upset at her son's treatment. According to an article from Fox News the outraged mother said, "A bow, a kiss to your mom is not misbehavior."

But the administrators feel they were just enforcing the rules that students agreed to. At a meeting following the debacle, school superintendent Suzanne Lukas said that "if a student doesn't adhere to the expectations, then the consequences are clearly spelled out."

[Artemis Webb]

Blew a kiss to his parents! What scum! /s

[driftdiver]

reason 3,234,567,231,238 to homeschool

[Artemis Webb]

I just checked the Bonny Eagle High School website. It appears to have crashed.

[mysterio]

In this case, a lawsuit is in order.

[llevrok]

Every grad season, you can count on two things: a guy wanting to be prom queen and a two bit school adminstrator doing something stupid just around grad time.

[blowfish]

He is fortunate to be free of that place.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Who says the gestapo isn’t running our public schools?

[Artemis Webb]

amen brother

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Theroretically, there’s no need for high school anymore. Many schools such as Penn Foster offer high school diplomas or equivalencies online and kids can just study at home. My daughter’s mom and I are discussing whether to homeschool our 8-year old this fall. Lucky for her, she works from home.

[OneWingedShark]

That punishment seems a bit excessive... I wonder though, if the student can sue the school on “breach of contract” as he had fulfilled the requirements to get the diploma yet was denied it.

IOW, I bet if this got to a jury-trial the guy would be a shoe-in win.

[Hildy]

When I read the headline I assumed there was going to be a big homo or lesbian kiss involved...HE BLEW A KISS TO HIS PARENTS? OH..The horrors! What is wrong with people...I’ll tell you...give someone a little power and they’ll make sure they use every last inch of it. The official will end up apologizing..it’s so stupid.

[DJ MacWoW]

Posted in "Comments" as video.

Graduation video

[Hildy]

LOL! You got that right!

[Texas Eagle]

The school administrator, clearly not the sentimental sort, sent the student back to his seat ... sans diploma.

I think Ubama has found his Health Care Czar.

[Maelstorm]

If it was a kiss to his boyfriend that would have been ok.

[freekitty]

What kind of people would deny a really happy kid his diploma which he earned over a period of years?

Scum and low class POS, that’s who.

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

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[skimbell]

He should just tell the administration that it was a kiss to his boyfriend!

Well hell, why didn't you say so? Case dismissed!

[La Lydia]

A real juvenile delinquent there. Where did the parents go wrong?

[metmom]

They’ll be putting one of those ankle tracking devices on the kid before you know it.