After a petition protesting the impact of the first lady’s scheduled appearance garnered nearly 2,000 signatures, Michelle Obama has rescheduled her graduation-day speech in a Topeka, Kansas, school district to the day before.
She will now speak at Topeka Unified School District 501’s “Senior Recognition Day” as part of a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
Students and their families began to express their discontent with Obama’s plan to speak at graduation because it resulted in limitations on how many tickets graduating students could obtain for their families. In the past, there were no limits to the number of people students could invite to the ceremony; the first lady’s appearance would have meant only six tickets apiece.
A petition asking the district to reconsider its decision, which involved combining the district’s five high-school graduations into one event because of the first lady’s remarks, managed to get 1,750 signatures.
“Once we learned about the concerns of some students, we were eager to find a solution that enabled all of the students and their families to celebrate the special day,” an Obama spokeswoman told the Hill.