A Texas high school is taking heat from parents following a last-minute decision to postpone May’s graduation ceremony after only five seniors met the requirements.
“This is a catastrophic failure of leadership and accountability,” Brandolyn Jones told the local school board last Friday. Jones’ son is Marlin High School’s senior class president and one of the few who initially met the requirements to earn his diploma.
Jones said students in the 33-person class received letters in April notifying them that they were on track for graduation. That all changed last week after an audit of attendance and grades.
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL POSTPONES CEREMONY AFTER ONLY 5 SENIORS MET GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
“I stand by what I said,” she told “Fox & Friends First” co-host Carley Shimkus on Thursday. “The statement and the narrative is that our students failed, but they did not fail. Over 80% of the students were eligible to graduate, according to the student body.”
“Parents have no control over setting up graduation audits, we have no control over administering the state exam, we have no control over putting proper processes in place to ensure proper channels of communication have been implemented,” she added.
Many participated in pre-graduation activities, according to Jones, including the senior walk and a senior trip held the Friday before the since-postponed graduation ceremony.
The school district announced the sudden change in a statement posted to Facebook on May 24 along with calling for a mandatory meeting for senior parents that same night.
“Our district will grow from this setback. Let this be a lesson learned for all,” Marlin ISD Superintendent Darryl Henson said via Twitter. “As we continue to go through our annual graduation audit, it’s our obligation to ensure that all students have met all requirements. Support, accountability, & integrity will remain at the forefront.”
Jones specified that she blames district leadership, including the superintendent and the school board for the miscommunication and upheaval.
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“Somehow, in this story, all of the claims of individual responsibility on the part of the student has caused all of these negative headlines, but that’s really far from what has really happened. Students were under the impression – as well as many of the parents – that our students were going to graduate on the 25th, and many of the families had relatives in from out of town.”
Jones said the district is looking for leadership that will properly handle such situations in the future, including putting policies in place to more effectively vet and evaluate school officials.
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Families likes Jones’ that were blindsided by the decision rallied the community around an unofficial ceremony held at nearby Marlin Missionary Baptist Church.
“We decided to pull the community together as fast as we could,” she said, telling Shimkus that the decision came after students were crushed by the news they would not receive their diplomas as originally planned.
“We [students and parents] didn’t want a handout. We wanted what our students had earned.”
The new graduation date is June 22. Twenty-nine students have now met graduation requirements outlined by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) after being given time to make up absences and coursework, according to school officials.
Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report.
