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Students want policy changed
BENTON - Several Kelly High School students as well as their families and community members want to change the school's early graduation policy.
Students who have earned the required credits after the first semester of their senior year are allowed to graduate in December. However, they are not permitted to participate in the year-end commencement exercises.
"Our local decision for not allowing students to walk if they graduate at semester is to encourage students to take advantage of our curriculum for the next semester," said Don Moore, superintendent of Kelly Schools. "We feel it is very beneficial for them to go ahead and take advantage of the final semester."
But some students disagree. "The classes I was taking weren't helping me," said Desert Wells, 18. "I'm starting college in January."
Seventeen-year-old Jayne Ruff, who is expecting a baby next month, agreed. "I was only taking four classes and then leaving to go to work," she said, adding that the classes she was enrolled in were more or less pointless.
Wells and Ruff are two of five students who chose to early out in December, although they knew about the policy. According to Moore, this is the first time a large number of students have chosen to leave in December during his eight years at Kelly.
Staying the full eight semesters gives students the opportunity to take advantage of activities offered by the school, including sports, prom and walking in the May graduation ceremony, according to Moore. He also pointed out that December graduates still receive their diplomas.
Although Tara Wimberley, 17, is only a junior, she is also interested in changing the policy. She plans to graduate next December and immediately enroll in nursing school.
"As long as we are going to better ourselves, I think we should be able to walk," Wimberley said. She added all of the early graduates this year are going to start some sort of college between January and March, with the exception of Ruff.
Ruff suggested the school have an application process. "They should have a policy where you get to tell them your situation," she said. "Then they can read it at a meeting and let you know."
After Wells' family checked with other schools, they found that Kelly is the only district in Scott County which does not allow December graduates to walk in May.
Scott County Central and Sikeston allow their December graduates to walk in May, although the superintendents agreed it is hard to obtain and not a big issue.
"If they do wish to graduate in less time than the ordinary eight semesters, they may request permission to complete their classes on an alternate schedule," said Dr. Larry Bohannon, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary/Professional Development.
JoAnne Northern, superintendent of Scott Central Schools, added, "We don't have it happen a lot because we have raised our graduation requirements, so for the most part, kids have to be here."
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education leaves the decision for regulations in graduation ceremonies to local boards of education. DESE simply requires students complete at least 22 units of credit in specific subjects between ninth and 12th grades.
Schools can also raise their standards for graduation, the three superintendents noted. "To graduate, the minimum credits completed are 24 units," Moore said.
This issue was so important to Wells and other students, including those not affected by early graduation in 2004, they circulated a petition. The group obtained 147 signatures.
Ruff noted that everyone she asked signed the petition. Wells added: "A lot of people didn't understand why we couldn't (walk)."
In November, the students presented the petition to the school board. They each had the opportunity to explain why they wished to graduate early.
The students later received letters that their request to walk in the graduation ceremony was denied. "They never gave us a reason," Wells said. "It was frustrating," Ruff added.
Although Wells and Ruff said they would like to see the policy changed for May's graduation ceremony, they insisted they would keep working to change it.
"It might not get changed this year, but there are people below us," Wells said. "I think that any student that earns it should get to walk with their class."