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Stricter graduation rule gets 2nd look
By KENT FISCHER, Times Staff Writer Stefanie Facas stood before the Pasco County School Board last May and begged to walk down the graduation aisle with her friends and classmates at Hudson High School. But Stefanie hadn't passed the state's graduation exam, and the board stood firmly behind a new policy that restricts participation in commencement ceremonies to only those students who have met all of the state's graduation requirements. She cried when the board refused to budge. One board member told Stefanie that the anguish she felt would diminish over time. A year later, Stefanie said the pain is still fresh. "That will always be a big deal to me," said Stefanie, who ultimately earned her diploma last summer. "I'm probably going to cry right now just talking about it. I wasn't asking for a diploma. I just wanted to walk with my friends." The school district used to allow all seniors to march across the graduation stage, whether they had earned a diploma or not. The board changed that policy in 1998. Now, only true graduates can join in commencement ceremonies. The rest get their own ceremony in August, provided they finish their studies over the summer. Stefanie's graduating class of 2001 was the first to be affected by that change. But now the board has softened its hard-line approach. Faced Tuesday with this year's crop of weepy students and their parents, the board decided to "rethink" the policy at a meeting June 4. "You're kidding me," Stefanie, 18, said when she learned the news Wednesday morning. "They told me that there was no way they could change their minds." Around Pasco on Wednesday, teachers and administrators said they want the board to hold fast on the issue. But people who aren't part of the school system had mixed reactions. "I think allowing them to walk with their class doesn't alienate anyone," said Susan Frimmel, human resources director for Pasco Regional Medical Center, which hires lots of district graduates each year. "They went to school with those students all those years. They should take part in the ceremony." Barbara DeSimone, personnel director for the county, said she's not concerned about whether future job applicants participate in high school graduation ceremonies. "We look at whether they have a high school diploma" or its equivalent, DeSimone said. "Whether or not they participate in graduation doesn't come into play." The policy bubbled up from principals and teachers who were tired of seeing kids march proudly down the aisle when everyone at the school knew they weren't really graduating. "Students earn the right to graduate, and that really ought to be what the ceremony means -- that you earned it," said Hudson High principal Greg Wright. Said David Jones, a veteran teacher at Zephyrhills High: "It's like getting paid but not showing up for work. The truth is that kids gain self esteem through accomplishment, not by us telling them that every child is a winner." Board member Jean Larkin said at Tuesday's meeting that the board intended the "no marching" policy to be a motivator, but now she thinks it's punishing some decent, hard-working kids. Max Ramos, principal of Land O'Lakes High, said the policy does motivate kids. His school has far fewer kids failing to meet the standard now than it did under the old rules, he said. But, he added, that doesn't mean the district shouldn't at least talk about whether the new policy can be improved. "It has made a difference in a lot of kids in a positive way," Ramos said. "But I do have a bone to pick with the (state mandate) that one high-impact test score can keep a kid from graduating." Of the 2,521 seniors in the county, 58 of them won't graduate Friday because of too-low test scores. Another 200 or so won't graduate because they failed to meet one of the district's other graduation requirements: a 2.0 grade point average and the successful completion of all their course work. One student said he doesn't care who marches as long as those who do have the grades to show that they did their work. "Some people don't do well on those tests," said Chad Abraham, president of Pasco High School's student government. "You're more stressed out on a test like that, but if you pass all your classes, that shouldn't stop you from walking with the class." -- Staff writers Chase Squires, Jennifer Goldblatt and Saundra Amrhein contributed to this report. Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. His e-mail address is
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
