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Here we go again |
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Let's see if we understand this. The senior class's number one student is charged with a felony for exploding pipe bombs and accused of possessing weapons on school property. The number two-ranked student, who is not charged with criminal activity, is punished by the school board. Sound fair to you?
School officials, apparently on the advice of their lawyer, negotiated away the rights of second-ranked A.J. Rowell. Without consulting him or his parents, local school board members made a deal that not only doesn't allow A.J. to move up to valedictorian in the absence of the top-ranked student, but also strips him of the title of salutatorian that he earned through four years of dedicated attention to his studies. Settlements were negotiated with pipe-bombing suspects, said school system attorney Richard Schwartz, in order to bypass a lengthy series of hearings. During talks with top-ranked Jennifer Parker, her lawyer and her parents - talks that resulted in disciplinary action with regard to Parker - A.J. Rowell's title was bargained away. What about his rights? His parents went to the school board and, mindful of the issue's sensitivity, agreed to speak during a closed session. They got a letter a week later telling them there would be no valedictorian or salutatorian, and that the board planned no further action on the matter. School officials do not deny, and in fact have confirmed, that the agreement that eliminated recognition of a valedictorian and salutatorian at this year's Smoky Mountain High School graduation exercises was struck during closed session negotiations with pipe-bomb suspects. No talks were held with the salutatorian. It is OK for school board members to vote on a deal like this in closed session, says their Raleigh lawyer Richard Schwartz, because it was made during negotiations with a particular student, which means student confidentiality laws apply. Not true, said N.C. Press Association attorney Amanda Martin. She believes such decisions could and should have been made during an open meeting. The school board could have discussed the matter without naming individual students, Martin said, and could have voted in open session. She also labeled the school board's action as "punitive of someone who's done nothing wrong." We agree with Martin. What school board members did is neither fair nor right and should, at the very least, have been decided during an open meeting. We bear no ill will towards Jennifer Parker. Her academic standing is the culmination of years of tireless effort, and though she has been charged with criminal activity, she has not been convicted. But she is no longer in school and cannot take part in the graduation exercises; therefore, the honor of being valedictorian should pass to the next in line. We strongly object to the school board's role in this matter. Hiding behind closed doors and having their lawyer say they don't have to name a valedictorian or salutatorian because no policy requires such designations is wrong. A.J.'s father, Jim Rowell, said it well: "I don't question that if she's number one, and she graduates, she's the valedictorian. But if she's suspended, why wouldn't you go to number two? Why suddenly decide not to honor anyone?" We have to wonder how the school board and its attorney decided this deal is a way to avoid a lawsuit. |
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