CA Valedictorian Barred from Giving Graduation Speech June 25, 2009
Posted by jayejfenderson in Articles.Tags: Accelerated School, Aurora Ponce, student protest, student sit-in, valedictorian barred from speech
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California students and educators are up in arms about our state’s educational crisis and the recently proposed cuts by the Governor, and we all have opinions about what should and shouldn’t be done to untangle the mess in which we’ve found ourselves.
Aurora Ponce, senior class president with a nearly perfect A-average, recently participated in a student sit-in to protest increased class sizes and the elimination of college prep classes. But now “according to the 18-year-old and her supporters, officials at the Accelerated School, a collection of South Los Angeles charter schools, have barred Ponce from making her valedictory speech at Saturday’s graduation as punishment. They have also taken away a summer tutoring job and other honors, she said.”
Seriously?!
Click here to read the full article in The Los Angeles Times.
We wouldn’t want to dampen the spirits of the graduates and their families with hope that their voice can make a difference and help to shed light on the policies of their the own educational system and how it is impacting them, the students. Instead we will test and see the
scores. Numbers speak louder than words. Fail.