No pomp and circumstance for two grads caught drunk at prom

Sparta —The traditional walk across the platform to receive a hard-earned diploma is a moment most high school students eagerly anticipate. But two Sparta High School boys missed this milestone on Friday evening, when Sparta’s class of 2006 marched without them. The boys were caught intoxicated at their senior prom on June 2. The incident occurred despite stern and repeated warnings against such behavior. School officials had told students they would be excluded from the graduation ceremony if they failed to comply with rules for prom conduct. But some students and parents disagreed with the school’s decision to exclude the boys. They said three female students were caught with cocaine on school property and were subsequently arrested on May 24. Yet, the girls were allowed to march to receive their diplomas, while the boys were not. Most students who weighed in on the issue were troubled by what they perceived as inequity in the ruling. They felt that if the girls were allowed to march, the boys should also. Some students said none of the five students should have been allowed to march with their class. Ryan Mathes, a member of the 2006 graduating class, said the ruling punished the parents more than the boys. “Some kids don’t really look forward to sitting for hours in the heat at a graduation,” he said. “It’s the families that care about all that.” One of the boys involved in the prom incident, whose name cannot be printed because he is a minor, had this to say: “I went to school for 12 years, and, after one stupid mistake, I couldn’t walk with my class.” Most parents questioned were more appalled by the drugs at school incident than the prom incident. “Doing drugs is worse than drinking,” said Debbie Mora, the parent of a Sparta High School junior and two older children who graduated from the school in recent years. “If the girls were allowed to receive their diplomas, the boys should have also. They all broke the rules, so their punishments should have been the same. But I think that drugs are worse than alcohol.” The two boys were, however, allowed to participate in the Project Graduation festivities that took place after graduation. A parent of one of the boys felt his son’s punishment was excessive, coming as it did after a five-day suspension. “It would have made more sense to let him walk at graduation and keep him home from Project Graduation,” he said. The superintendent of schools, Dr. Thomas J. Morton, said he was reluctant to talk about students’ punishment. “But I will say that in every case we absolutely follow all rules, regulations, and policies in regard to substance abuse and penalize students to the fullest extent,” he said. “However, once students have fulfilled their penalties, we make every attempt to help them get back on track.” Principal Richard Lio was unavailable for comment at the time of this writing. Most faculty and staff members questioned favored the ruling and said Lio acted fairly. They said that because expectations were clearly communicated to students, the stated consequences should be enforced. Kacey Konwiser, a guidance counselor, summed up the faculty-staff position by saying, “It’s a shame when these things have to happen in the first place. But when students are fully aware of potential consequences and make bad choices anyway, that’s the real tragedy.” Though some students and parents remain unhappy about the outcome, the students who broke the rules did officially graduate. Even if they did not receive them publicly, their diplomas are theirs to keep.