a high school graduation ceremony in Texas was canceled after the district discovered that only five of 33 future graduates they were eligible to cross the stage, officials said Friday.
Marlin HS, about 120 miles south of downtown Dallas, was scheduled to hand out diplomas Thursday before the Marlin Independent School District disclosed that several students «did not meet the requirements due to attendance or grades.»
Announcing the postponement of the ceremony, Superintendent Darryl Henson said students in his district «will be held to the same high standards as every other student in Texas.»
“We hold high expectations, not as an imposition, but as a show of faith in the abilities of our students,” Henson said in a statement to the community
superintendent henson and his staff audited student files last weekend to find that only five were eligible to graduate, district spokeswoman Leah Wayne told NBC News on Friday.
Ineligibility stemmed from a myriad of reasons, including failing grades, attendance, verification, and documentation issues.
«They found some gaps in the data compared to what they thought it should be,» Wayne said. «That’s why they gave the students some extra time. They made the decision to postpone graduation so more students could fix some of those issues.»
Those ineligible students have been doing make-up work and signing the appropriate forms, and as of Friday, 27 of 33 students are now able to convert tassels, Wayne added.
Students in the district’s Alternative Education Program were also affected by the final audit, which found that only two of those five students were eligible to walk.
That total is now three, so a total of 30 of Marlin ISD’s 38 students are now set to cross the stage, according to the district.
Despite any inconvenience or embarrassment caused by the postponement, school officials insisted that the decision was made in the best interest of students in the state-controlled system.
“That has been the pillar of this administration, we are not going to spare any effort. This school district was a failed school district for 10 years before the state took it over,” Wayne said.
«No student should ever go through the system and that’s part of the reason this audit was taken.»
The date for a rescheduled graduation had not been set until Friday.