From the New York Daily News:

The valedictorian of a Brooklyn high school was escorted out of the building and denied her diploma yesterday because she trashed the school in a scorching graduation speech.
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A top student who’s going to Smith College on a full scholarship this fall, Schley was brutally honest about the High School of Legal Studies during Thursday’s graduation ceremonies in Bushwick.

Among her gripes: The school has had four principals in four years, overcrowded classes, a shortage of textbooks and other basic materials, unqualified teachers, unstable staffing and uncaring administrators who refused to meet with students to discuss the school’s problems.
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When Schley came to school yesterday to pick up her diploma with the rest of her classmates, she and her mother were told they had been disrespectful and were escorted out of the building.

Her mom, Felicia Schley, was furious at the way she and her daughter were treated and remains proud of Tiffany.

“She busted her behind to get there, she kept it clean and she was honest,” her mother said. “Sometimes the truth hurts.”

I’m not sure which side to come down on here. On the one hand, nobody wants controversy at graduation (c.f. reports of Bush-hating keynote speakers at college graduations). On the other hand, my instinct is that the school, like most institutions, is lashing out as it would at any criticism. In the absence of any other information, I’m going to side with the student. It seems like the school could be magnanimous here.

Posted in uncategorized on June 27th, 2004 by Thibodeaux | RSS 2.0 |