Seniors protest graduation cancellation
CENTERBURG — On Friday, Centerburg High School seniors, along with many parents, gathered in front of the school to protest the school board’s decision to cancel formal graduation ceremonies. Emotions are running high.
9 Responses to “ Seniors protest graduation cancellation”
I hope that the board is voted out the next time around. The high school commencement ceremony is something that only happens once in a kid’s lifetime. It should not be canceled under any circumstances. They are punishing far too many for the actions of few.
Centerburg Alumni, you sounds like you are one of the board members trying to defend yourself. I agree with discipline and do not believe in cheating, but canceling the ceremony was not the right thing.
Centerburg Alum’s got it mostly right and Sue and Todd, you are the ones who are stupid and immature. Your brains must be working on about the same level as the idiotic cheating seniors who seem to have a complete lacking in ethics, truth, and right and wrong. What kind of parents are raising these kids where 75% of them think it’s perfectly OK to cheat? I’m assuming a decent percentage of them have applied or been accepted to college. Hey Sue and Todd, you think the admissions office of any college in the country would think cheating on tests during the senior year is a joke, no big deal, something to just laugh about? That kind of info will get your application tossed in the trash just about as fast as anything you could possibly do. These kids are stepping into the real world now and I can assure you potential employers in this economy will not even think about hiring individuals with those kinds of morals.
This current generation of kids is just amazing. All the great facilities the community has built and is paying for so the kids have access to unlimited opportunities to learn more than any generation before and instead they’re just riddled with lazy cheaters. I feel bad for the kids that didn’t cheat and got screwed because of the morons who did. If you were NOT one of the cheaters you should feel proud of yourselves.
I commend the school board for what they did and guess what C’Burg Class of 2009, you’re a disgrace to your school and have made your class and your town a laughingstock statewide and via the internet probably worldwide. Heck no you didn’t deserve to walk in pride as a graduate of Centerburg. And that goes for the screaming parents who are attacking the school board instead of taking a good look in the mirror ’cause it doesn’t look they are getting much of a job done at home. Guess it shouldn’t be any surprise about where the lack of responsibility the kids have comes directly from.
Not sure who the thinks-he’s-Einstein hacker was that caused all this but I, for one, would like to know his or her name. Doesn’t seem right to me to bring down the entire senior class and get to hide in the shadows. I’m assuming that person’s in big, big trouble with the legal system and eventually will be identified.
And Stephanie, if you’re a Centerburg grad you should not embarrass yourself or the school that graduated you with those kinds of typographical errors and horrendous sentence structure. You’re lucky the school board’s not suing you for embarrassing them with that kind of lame attempt to compose a thought. You would file a lawsuit on them huh? Wow.
I think that was stupid for the school people to cancel graduation. They just punish all the senior that didn’t cheat or anything. I think the one that cheat should got punished not the ones that didn’t. I feel bad for them because I got a graduation when I did but they didn’t. If I was a parent and one of my child was there and didn’t graduate then I would file a lawsuit on them…
I could not agree more Centerburg Alumni. I think you speak for the silent majority.
I do not agree with the posts where it is said that the many are being punished for the actions of the few. In this case, it is the few, probably literally a handful of students who did no cheating. It is the many who did. I feel that the school board handled appropriately. If there was just a couple of students 1-5 who cheated, that can be handled discretely, fail the tests, make an example out of them. However, when it is ingrained into the entire class’s moral that cheating is acceptable and 75% (as quoted by the principal) participated or were connected to the test, everyone should be punished. Centerburg is such a small school, you would be lying if you went to school there and had no idea what was going on. I feel bad for the KCCC kids as they don’t take the classes. But the thing at cburg, is that it’s not just that one test. It’s multiple classes and a history of students involved. I’m so happy that teachers have proof and took action. Kudos to Centerburg for taking action to clean up the school system. It seems that this generation does not learn except through discipline. As far as education goes, when you cheat, you are only cheating yourself. The student body should take responsibility for their actions. They should not be attacking the school board but rather their 60 some classmates who were involved and probably everyone else including theirselves who knew about it and did nothing. The school board is not to blame–the cheaters are. Facts are, it wasn’t just a couple of people, it was 75% of the graduating class. A diploma is earned, a ceremony is a special thing to celebrate the graduating class. The schoolboard is making a strong statement that will be far reaching. Kudos to the school board.
I still don’t understand blaming the school board or others for the actions of the students. This class will be marked moving forward as a class of cheaters. They not only tarnished their reputation, but the Cburg school system and the community. They’ve shamed everyone, but most of all they’ve shamed themselves and their innocent classmates by their actions. I’m afraid to admit that I am from Cburg or an alumni from that school for fear that my accomplishments will also be tarnished. Parents, when your graduates were young, when they broke the rules, were you still the type to take them to the movies? Or was their punishment removing the reward? It seems that the students in this class who have cheated felt that there would be no consequences or that they deserved the rewards no matter what.
It was amazing down at the park today. Cheaters showed up with non-cheaters to celebrate. Made a joke out of the entire thing. What the student body should have down was issue an apology on behalf of the entire 2009 senior class to the community.
I’m just absolutely ashamed to be a citizen of Centerburg and a past graduate.
Just shows you how immature the school board really acted. They are supposed to be the highly educated and RESPONSIBLE adults, what a laugh. To all the parents who made big plans for the graduation, when you see a member of the school board around town give them a piece of your mind on what their decision meant to you that day also. I know that county is not that big that you cant run into them at some point during the summer. Maybe they will get YOUR message. Oh and remind them that this will be there last time in that elected position too. Let them know how smart they really were with that decision..laughing all the way….Great job at sticking it back at them kids, use this as a life lesson on how to deal with authoritative individuals that have way to big of an ego to do any good.
Oh– and there was a suburban school near Chicago last week where the principal did not let the parents into the graduation if they were “late” – meaning if they were not there 15 minutes before it started — despite traffic jams all around the school. Some people get their little piece of power and turn into a little Hitler. So silly. SO some kids found a clever way to get tests in some class — what was it — world what? So what? Get some perspective, people. The world is bigger than your school and way bigger than whatever that class was.
This is stupid. The hacker kid should just go into computer stuff in college and be done with it. YOu know he or she will be sought after. This is asinine. If they aren’t having graduation, at least have some fun. Party on, people. These administrators will be stuck in podunk podunkiness for life.
What a nightmare…… I am appauled that countless students are being punished. Let them walk. The last comment inthe article really ****** me off. “”The only thing students are missing is graduation”. You can still have your partys… Some of these kids have worked hard to walk and feel proud about completing 13 years of school. I think the school will be sooo sorry in the end…