School Excludes Special Ed Students From Graduation Participation

Social media users are fuming after hearing what went down at the Georgia high school ceremony and how the students with special needs were treated.

The news comes after Linda Ramirez exposed her daughter’s high school for discriminating against students with special needs, as they were not allowed to fully participate in their May 25 graduation ceremony.

A high school graduation ceremony should be a lasting memory for students and their parents. Unfortunately, for some of the recent graduates at Sprayberry High School, the big day will be remembered, but for the wrong reasons.

Linda, the mother of Sprayberry High School student Ashlynn Rose Rich, said her daughter and the other special ed students were separated from the rest of the graduating class at the ceremony, causing an uproar on social media.

She told People Magazine that she expected her daughter to participate in the main commencement ceremony just like her older siblings had, but Ashlynn and several other students with special needs didn’t have that opportunity.

Shortly before the commencement began, Linda asked one of the teachers: “I said, ‘Where will [Ashlynn] be sitting?’ ‘Oh, she’s not sitting with the general ed students.’ And I said, ‘What?’ Then it got very noisy and I hung up the call. I don’t know if it was because I was upset because I heard something I didn’t want to hear, but it was too late. The ceremony started at that point,” she told the outlet, adding that the special ed students couldn’t see or hear what was happening at the ceremony, meaning they missed out on several speeches and the music played.

“They call the special needs students one by one [to] walk across the stage and exit out a left hallway, to exit outside behind the building,” she recalled. “And by the time they were done, they were just starting the general ed kids commencement ceremony as far as issuing diplomas. I was very upset…I’m like, ‘Why did we even come?’ “

“Everybody that had a special needs child got up to go collect their kids,” she continued. ”And during this, the commencement ceremony is in full, it’s happening. So our kids missed it all. They didn’t get the turn of the tassel. They didn’t get to see the opening speeches, and they didn’t get that big walkout.”

A representative for the Cobb County School District released an apology after the news got out.

“Every year we graduate approximately 8,000 students and every special needs parent, in every Cobb school, chooses how their child is celebrated. Some Cobb families choose a full graduation ceremony, some choose to protect their child from noise, stimuli or attention in a variety of ways,” the statement read. “Every child’s needs are discussed individually, and confidentially, so the specific needs of our special needs students are met.”

“This year, although initial reports indicated those choices were offered, we discovered they were not offered to one student at Sprayberry High School,” the statement continued. “Our expectation, and the parent’s, was not fully met. As a result, [Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale] apologized to the student and family in last night’s [June 13] Board meeting.”

While the school acknowledged its wrongdoing in its apology, social media did not forgive the officials for their actions.

“Apology isn’t enough,” one social media user expressed after hearing the story. “A happy and celebratory memory turned into a memory of hurt, conflict, and exclusion. Graduation memory is tainted. Those students and their families can’t get that memory back. Shame on the school. An apology isn’t even a band aide for resolution for this scenario.”

“Absolutely unacceptable and heartbreaking to them and their families,” another chimed in.

“Their sorry’s mean nothing,” a third commented. “They knew what they were doing and didn’t care. So tired of people thinking they can treat peoplle like crap and all they have to do is say sorry to fix it. Not good enough.”

One individual called the school’s actions “the cruelest thing in the world,” as another left a lengthy comment.

“Well…the school should have a ‘do over’!!! Make it mandatory for all graduates to come back and do the ceremony over ..THEN!!!!..include those students that were made to feel less of a human being,” they said. “And let them have their day walking across that stage with ALL classmates just like all the other students who got to participate in walking to get their diploma…..OR…ALL parties involved in the planning of the graduation exercises should be FIRED!!