No Plans, No Graduation Rite, Seniors Told
By DAVID PIERSON LA Times
More than 3,700 seniors at eight San Fernando Valley high schools may have taken all the English, history and math classes required for a diploma, but if they want to cross the stage at graduation, they'll first need to take big steps for their future.
Under a new, much-debated policy, those students will be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies only if they have committed to post-secondary education or training--whether university, community college, trade school or the military.
Officials in the Los Angeles school system's local District C, covering the southwest Valley, defend the policy as a way to encourage more students to consider college or at least get them to think about the future. Civil libertarians call the rule elitist, and students complain it violates their right to graduate before parents and friends. Some students said they obtained acceptance letters from community colleges just to qualify for the graduation ceremony but have no intention of enrolling.
