One of the primary roles a School Board is to support administration in their decisions on the day to day operations matters. Whether it is an isolated issue on what a graduate can wear to graduation or a more serious matter where a principal requests teacher to reconsider changing failing grades, the school board needs to balance the need to support administration against the education of all children.
Will Graduation Dream Come True?
Petaluma High senior wants to wear his Marine dress uniform to ceremony. Principal has said no. Student's father plans appeal to board
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2005
Followup - Board Chooses Not to Act
Steven Kiernan, 17, has two dreams: One is to become a Marine, and the other is to wear his Marine dress-blue uniform to his high school graduation.
Kiernan is close to achieving the first. He has finished all but the final days of the grueling 12-week boot camp in San Diego.
But his goal of wearing his uniform to Petaluma High School's graduation on June 11 appears thwarted.
The principal of the Northern California school notified Kiernan's parents that school rules require that all graduates wear the traditional cap and gown.
Jim Kiernan, Steven's father, plans to appeal the decision to the Petaluma school board at its meeting Tuesday.
"The Marine Corps has traditions, but I guess the school district has traditions too, and the different traditions have collided," he said in a telephone interview.
Jim Kiernan, who works for a vineyard management company, said he was not so much angered by the decision as he was puzzled. Other graduates, he said, will be honored for their achievements, by wearing adornments on their caps or having their names read aloud.
"Finishing boot camp is my son's achievement, and I think he deserves to be honored too," Jim Kiernan said. He's a member of another school board in Sonoma County and says he knows that school boards can overrule principals.
In similar cases this spring involving young Marines returning to their high school graduations in Illinois and Wisconsin, school officials lifted the no-uniforms rule.
Steven finished his course work early at Petaluma High so he could start boot camp. His parents, somewhat reluctantly, signed his enlistment papers.
Principal Mike Simpson said he sympathized with Steven and respects his decision to enlist. Simpson's father was a Marine who saw combat in World War II.
Still, Simpson said, rules are rules.
"The intent of a graduation ceremony is not to individualize, but to show that all the graduates are part of the same class," he said. "If we do differentiate, it's because of academic achievements."
Dress blues at graduation?
Officials won't vote on letting student wear Marine uniform
By Jim Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2005
The father of a Petaluma teenager appealed to school officials Tuesday night, asking them to permit his son to wear his Marine Corps uniform when he joins his classmates for next month's high school graduation ceremony.
"It's been his dream to become a Marine since I can remember," said James Kiernan, explaining that his son had finished his high school studies early so he could begin military training. "I ask you to allow my son to not only bring honor to himself but also his fellow classmates and his school."
He noted that the purpose of high school graduation ceremonies is to recognize many forms of achievement, including academic, sports and citizenship.
But the Petaluma City School District board chose not to take any action on the request of 17-year-old Steven Kiernan, who is scheduled to complete boot camp at Camp Pendleton next week.
While no vote was taken, board members indicated Tuesday night that they had no plans to overrule a recent decision by Petaluma High School Principal Mike Simpson that Kiernan must wear a cap and gown to receive his diploma in the June 11 graduation ceremony.
School districts in Wisconsin and Illinois decided this year to allow students to wear military uniforms at graduation ceremonies. But a school district in Ogden, Utah, last year withheld the diplomas of two seniors after they pulled off their gowns to reveal Army National Guard uniforms.
The controversy in Petaluma drew a small crowd -- fewer than two dozen people. Seven spoke in favor of the student's desire to wear his dress blues, including an 8-year-old boy.
"I don't think this is fair," said Kyle Leber, a Petaluma third-grader. "He's serving (his country.) He could die out there."
David Kollerer, an Air Force cadet from Petaluma who spoke in uniform, said: "You should be proud that he's gone above and beyond the call of any student."
Marine Corps veteran Eddie Martin, of Petaluma, questioned the school board's wisdom. "Why as a society do we have to make a big deal of everything?" he asked. "This community needs to support people like this. ... This gentleman could die for us next year for our freedoms."
Carol Mckegney, a teacher at San Antonio High School in Petaluma, insisted that Kiernan and other seniors should wear caps and gowns. "We absolutely revere this young man's service to this country, but that's not the issue here," she said. "There's a time and place for everything. This is a high school commencement."
After the public hearing, school board member Lou Steinberg defended the school district's policy.
"This is an administrative issue at this point," said Steinberg, indicating that the board did not intend to put the issue on its agenda before the graduation ceremony. "Historically in this district, caps and gowns have been the dress of the day for graduation. ... If you start to politicize graduation, you open it up to all sides."
Outside the school board's meeting room, Kim Kiernan said of her son: "Here's a kid who's excelled, who's chosen a profession that's honorable. ... He's putting his life on the line. I just can't understand why the school board can't make an exception, not just for him, but for others."
O.C. Principal's Memo Stirs Teachers, District
Note tells high school's instructors graduation rates are low and asks them to rethink 'F' grades. Trustees deal with the fallout
By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2005
Officials of Orange County's largest school district were dealing with the fallout Tuesday from a high school principal's memo that urged teachers to pass failing students so they could graduate and allow the school to meet federal graduation requirements.
A June 9 memo from the principal of Santa Ana's Saddleback High School asked teachers to reconsider the failing grades of 98 students so that the school could meet the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
"This is the largest number of non-graduates we have had in years!" reads the memo from Principal Esther Jones, who didn't return calls seeking comment. "I am asking teachers of these non-graduates to please review your records for these students and determine if they would merit a grade of 'D' instead of a failure."
Jones added that the school needed 95% of its seniors to graduate, but it actually needed 82.8% under the law — which was achieved. In fact, Saddleback, which will graduate more than 500 today — a rate of 83.7% — is among the troubled district's better-performing schools.
Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Al Mijares said he planned to brief school board members about the incident in a closed session.
"It raises alarms. It raises concerns," said board member John Palacio. "We need to look at this real closely."
Educators say the incident highlights the intense pressure schools face in meeting accountability standards of the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the 2002 law, districts must raise achievement levels or face sanctions, including the loss of federal funding or the removal of principals and teachers.
"The higher you make the stakes, the more pressure there is," said Bill Padia, director of the policy and evaluation division at the state Department of Education.
Mijares and other district officials met with Saddleback teachers Monday and told them to ignore the memo. An assistant superintendent spent Tuesday combing through recent grade changes and planned to talk to teachers about them.
"Everybody is under pressure … and there are severe consequences for schools that do not progress," Mijares said. But, he said, "our work needs to focus on the education of students and not be extremely obsessed with" meeting accountability requirements.
School board President Audrey Yamagata-Noji said she needed to find out more about Jones, the incident, and her leadership of the school before determining whether discipline was necessary.
"We have very high standards," she said. "We have numerous parents that plead with us to let students graduate, and we hold the line. This [memo] goes against all that we believe in and pride ourselves on in terms of academic standards."
Several Saddleback teachers said they were outraged by the memo.
"I was pretty much insulted, because we do so much to help these seniors pass, and when you [fail a student], it really hurts," said Rosalind Turner, a 21-year classroom veteran.
Turner said she emphasized to students that passing her social studies class was required for graduation, sent progress reports to parents every six weeks, and offered help to struggling students.
"We do everything we possibly can to pass them. To be asked to go beyond that is ridiculous," social studies teacher Larry Collier said. "I termed [the memo] a slap in the face. I've never seen anything like that in my 44 years of teaching."
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