Marlin High School, located just outside of Waco, Tex., has postponed its graduation ceremony after only five seniors out 33 met basic academic benchmarks.
An earlier audit conducted by the Marlin Independent School District (ISD) of the Class of 2023 found that the overwhelming majority either had too many absences, did not fully complete a course, or failed a required course.
“We hold firm to our belief that every student in Marlin ISD can and will achieve their potential. We maintain expectations, not as an imposition, but as a show of faith in our students’ abilities,” the district’s superintendent, Darryl Henson, wrote in a statement published on Facebook earlier this week.
“As we navigate these challenges, one thing is clear: students in Marlin ISD will be held to the same high standards as any other student in Texas,” the senior administrator added.
However, the news was not received well among the handful of compliant students that met graduation requirements and had invited family from abroad to join the celebrations in June.
Victoria Banda, the mother of another one of the few seniors to meet graduation requirements, condemned the district for penalizing good students.
“We have family traveling in from Mexico and if anyone knows, it’s not cheap,” she told the local news outlet, KWTX.
Some of the successful students were discouraged by the announcement, too.
”They told us that because of the students that didn’t meet the requirements it wouldn’t be fair for only five students to walk the stage,” one of the handful of successful students, Alondra Alvarado, told the local outlet.
Meanwhile, some of the struggling seniors complained to the local news affiliate that they were unaware of their non-compliance with academic requirements.
”They’re saying that I’m missing an elective class, but with that I don’t understand because in 9th grade I took a typing class,” one senior, C’ijah Williams, told KWTX.