Blowing kisses incorrect in Maine?
We read:
"Justin Denney's family watched on as he ascended the Cumberland County Civic Center stage during graduation Friday night to accept his diploma, but the superintendent told him to return to his seat.
The Bonny Eagle High School senior's mother wants an apology, and her son wants his diploma. "It's all I can think of now," Justin Denney said. "Why did that happen. What just happened?"
Mary Denney said she can't believe how her son's taking a bow and blowing a kiss on stage was grounds for the superintendent to withhold his diploma. "I'm like, 'Did she not hand him his diploma?' I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Mary Denney said.
She said she and Justin both signed a code of conduct regarding the graduation when she picked up graduation tickets on Friday, but she doesn't think he violated it. "There was no misbehavior. Showboating is not misbehavior," Mary Denney said. "A bow, a kiss to your mom is not misbehavior. There was no need of my son not getting his diploma."
Before the school began handing out diplomas, some students pulled out beach balls. One student was forced to sit away from his classmates with staff while police escorted another student behind the stage. "No arrests were made. The individual that was escorted off the stage was asked to leave the civic center.
The deputy returned to the crowd and took another beach ball away from the students, but Mary Denney said School Area District 6 Superintendent Suzanne Lukas was still upset. "When she got up there and started speaking, they threw out a couple more balls and she turned around and said, 'More people may not be graduating today if this continues,'" Mary Denney said.
While in his seat or waiting in line for his diploma, Justin Denney never touched a beach ball. After his name was called, he took a bow, blew a kiss to and pointed to his family and he pulled out a necklace made for him after he won a state track final, but he didn't get his diploma, leaving a whole family in disbelief.
The crowd booed, but Justin Denney still doesn't have his diploma. Now, his mother wants her son to get what he's worked so hard for.
Source
The misbehavior by other students was obviously stupid and wrong and was properly punished but to classify blowing kisses as misbehavior is surely strange. The lad was just thanking his parents. I am sure a lot of parents wish their children were more thankful. The superintendent was obviously under stress at the time but now that she has had time for reflection she should apologize for her wrong call and do her best to make amends.
20 comments:
What a horrible thing, Justin is being punished just because he didn't march like a good storm trooper. Blowing kisses may not be appropriate for someone graduating basic training, but a high school graduation is a different story. Parents film stuff like this, of course the kid's gonna perform.
Typical school overreaction. They probably have several zero tollerance policies at that school including ones to expell students who have tylenol or draw pictures of soldiers with guns. Very sad!
My son graduated this year. They asked them not to wave, and the kids didn't. I understand that, they wanted a little bit of decorum to the proceeding. But I did get a wink and he did get his diploma. This was way overboard and totally ruined one of the biggest days in this kids life!
When my oldest daughter graduated High School, the principal became so incensed at one of her classmate's behavior that she told him he would be the LAST student to receive his diploma the next day.
Well, what happened should be entirely predictable to anyone who has a teenage son - but was apparently beyond the principal.
When it came time for him to receive his diploma - dead last just as the principal had promised - he was anything but cowed. He raised his hands, show-boated, was given a standing ovation by his classmates...all while the principal could only fume at her own incompetence.
This isn't college - this is not the military - these are High School diplomas. We're all told how worthless they are - everyone "knows" you need a college education to make anything of yourself - so why do High Schools try to take them so seriously???
It sounds like the superintendent's panties were a bit too tight stopping her from thinking, assuming she's capable of thinking. If the time and place were changed, to say, Berlin, 1939, the surerintendents actions would make more sense. This is another clear case of what happens when parents allow the govt. to run and control these indoctrination camps. I hope Mrs. Denney turns her lawyers loose!
Does this kid have to repeat 12 grade? Presumably he already was accepted to college.
It seems all high schools have decided to remove all joy from the graduation ceremony. If there is to be no celebration then they should just hand out the diplomas in class on the last day of school. School administrations should just lighten up and allow the graduates and their guests to enjoy the day.
I can see why this happened. There were probably about a hundred or so kids getting diploma's that day. The ceremony is pretty long, and there could have been another school doing their ceremony later in the day.
Obviously, the sooner the school gets out, the more time the other has to get it ready for them (team flags, slides, etc, it can take a while).
I remember at my ceremony, there was also zero tolerance on that sort of thing. You hear your name, you walk onto the stage, you shake hands, you get your diploma, you walk off the other end. If there's over 100 kids, it's gonna take a while anyway. And do you really care about the other kids? No, you don't. You want to see your little Johnny, maybe his friends, and then you want to get home so you can take off the uncomfortable suit.
It's called being considerate.
Do I think he went over the line? Not really, but he didn't do what he was told, and he was also told of the zero tolerance policy.
It's the kids own fault.
Life has consequences, he should know that by now. He should accept responsibility for his actions.
That said, the school should give him his diploma after a short delay, like a week. It's not like he needs the paper copy to get a job or anything.
The answer is not to go to the graduation. After 4 years of satisfying the control freaks just wait for the mail instead
Do I think he went over the line? Not really, but he didn't do what he was told, and he was also told of the zero tolerance policy.
Where do you find the idea that there was a "Zero tolerance" poicy? There was a signed policy against "misbehaving."
Do you really think that bowing and blowing a kiss to one's mother qualifies as "misbehaving?"
The ceremony is pretty long, and there could have been another school doing their ceremony later in the day.
This is an assumption without basis in fact. The ceremony was held on a Friday night. There was no following ceremony.
It's called being considerate.
It seems that the point you are trying to make is that the kid's actions somehow made the ceremony longer and therefore he should be punished.
I would disagree with that, but even assuming that you are correct, which took longer? The kid bowing and blowing a kiss? Or the superintendant's grilling of the kid while up on the stage?
If the length of time is the issue, then the superintendant should face "consequences" as well.
There was a lot of other things going on that most people would say would qualify as "misbehaving." Punish those kids. A kid bowing and blowing a kiss to his mother doesn't even come close to a behavorial problem.
What happened here is that the Superintendant got upset at the actions of others and decided to take it out on other kids. It is a classic case of a person in charge forgetting that the ceremony is not for them, but the graduates and their families.
Quite frankly, if there is a penalty here is should be dealt to the superintendant. She clearly has forgotten what it is like to be 18 and after a 12 year journey, ending one part of your life and beginning another.
It is a shame when an educator needs an education.
By the way Anon 8:46, the link has video of what the kid did and the superintendant's reaction to it.
Watch it for yourself and see where there is a violation of this mythical "zero tolerance" policy you speak of. Watch it and see which action took longer - the kid's or the superintendant's?
There is no defense for this educator's actions. None. She needs to either 'fess up and say she overreacted or simply resign as she is totally clueless.
The only disruption that was created during this kid's graduation was that created by the superintendant.
Shame on her.
The bitch superindentant needs to be fired. If i was Justin's family i would start a movement to have the jerk fired or demoted to janitor.
Well said. Many of these school officials behave like overseers on a chain gang. They take their roles too seriously and eventually give themselves far more authority than they should have.
Me thinks the good super doth have a bit of sand in her vagina.
Nothing that a new career wouldn't cure.
Monica Lewinski didn't get "admonished" for blowing the president's kisses.
Err, Wasn't "kisses" William Jefferson Clinton's pet name for a part of his anatomy?
I recall that at my graduation ceremony they just handed each of us a Blank piece of paper since the actual diploma was mailed anyway.
It really depends on what was on the "Code of conduct" that he signed but even then he should still get his diploma after a suitable delay. It's possible the delay is being extended because of the excessive reaction by him and his parent.
I wonder what a constitutional lawyer would say after reviewing their so-called "code of conduct"?
I'll bet if he was caught in the bathroom blowing a classmate instead of a kiss, nothing would have been said. He probably would have graduated with honors!
Typical behavior by a self-important administrator - a major overreaction. If this highly-paid government worker makes on-the-fly decisions like this, how would she do in a real crisis?
I believe the superintendent should be fired/discilplined for a poor decision. What makes this even worse is her not being able to understand that this is the student's moment, not hers. If she cannot grasp the importance of their joy and that of the family, then she shouldn't be in a position that has control over it.
They might as well just tape the ceremony and send it to the parents... Skools are joke in America, and it's no accident.
~darko
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