Obviously I wasn’t there, but based upon what I’ve read in the story, the principal’s response is way overboard here.
Okay, she should have said “heck”, as it was written in the speech. Maybe she planned to say hell, maybe she didn’t. Either way, let it go already. It’s not like she went into a 15-minute routine from Chris Rock or Lenny Bruce. She didn’t even drop an F-bomb. Beyond that, she completed her studies at that high school (in outstanding fashion, though GPA is not the issue here), and is moving on to the next phase of her life. The principal needs to write this off as a senior moment and move on, too.
It appears as though she DID graduate, and I suppose she is in college, or qualified to apply to colleges. What she doesn’t have is the physical diploma. Does anyone who has been out of high for more than 5 years know where his/her diploma is? I haven’t seen mine for over 35 years, and would not know where to begin to look for it.