A Texas high school is postponing graduation because too many of its seniors failed to achieve the requirements to walk the stage. But students at the school are saying it was the administration and infrastructure at Marlin High School that failed them.
Marlin boasts a senior class of 33 students in its traditional program, but only five had made the initial grade to graduate.
Marlin ISD Superintendent Darryl Henson said the district is conducting an internal audit of attendance, grades and credits, according to NPR.
Henson reported that another 12 students had resolved the issues standing in the way of their graduations as of Wednesday evening with the aid of school officials, but that the ceremony has been postponed until June with about half the class still failing to meet the requirements.
“The support was there,” Jesse Bustamante told NPR. Bustamante is a teacher at Marlin who also served as its director of human resources. But several students disagreed with that assessment with a meeting with administration officials Wednesday night.
Students said teachers missed too many work days and administrators were obtuse in informing students what credits were still needed to graduate, delaying the relay of information and then later moving the goalposts.
One student in particular complained that she had to repeatedly badger officials about a “credit recovery” class she needed, and that it required several emails and three months of pestering before the class was finally made available to her.
Meanwhile, William Ealy, Marlin’s Dean of Instruction, claims that attempts were made to warn parents about the severity of the seniors’ situations.
“Let this be a lesson learned for all,” Henson said via Twitter. “As we continue to go through our annual graduation audit, it's our obligation to ensure that all students have met all requirements. Students in Marlin ISD will be held to the same high standard as any other student in Texas.”
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