KELLOGG, Idaho — Despite the Kellogg School District (KSD) announcement on Friday that the graduation ceremony set for Saturday was postponed due to safety concerns for students, staff, and families, the ceremony took place Saturday.
Kellogg School District Superintendent Lance Pearson confirmed to KREM that the 2023 Kellogg High School Graduation took place on Saturday in the Andrews Gym, where 64 students took part in the ceremony.
Pearson said school staff met with a group of concerned parents on Friday night, and had a meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the middle school with all the senior parents, where about 150 people attended the meeting.
KSD worked with Kellogg Police, and Shoshone County Sheriff to come up with safety provisions prior to the graduation ceremony. They decided to switch the scheduled time to 10 a.m. and kept it quiet because of threats from agitating groups going around.
On Friday, more than 30 Kellogg High School students walked out in protest of the disciplinary decision for one of the seniors. Administrators said the student made unapproved comments about gender and, as a result, he was told not to be allowed to walk at graduation.
Pearson said there weren't any protests on Saturday during the graduation and the kids were grateful to finally walk for their graduation.
During the ceremony, officers were at the bottom of the hill and had a pre-approved list of people who were supposed to be at the ceremony, Pearson said.
The senior, who was banned to walk at graduation, didn't attend the ceremony.
Background information
It all started with one sentence at the end of the year assembly.
"The seniors got to say one piece of advice or one thing they wanted to tell the rest of school, and he said, 'Boys are boys and girls are girls, and there's no in between,'" said Jaeger Hall, a junior at Kellogg High School. "We could see on the face of some of the teachers they weren't happy with his comment."
Students participating in the assembly were supposed to submit their speeches for approval beforehand. However, the school says the student in question read a different speech when he took the stage.
The next day, that student was told he was no longer allowed to walk at graduation because he broke the rules.
"The Kellogg High School administration firmly believes in the rights of all students and strives to provide a safe, nurturing environment where students are challenged to demonstrate individual responsibility, attain academic excellence, achieve personal success and involve themselves in lifelong learning activities," the district said in a statement.
Members of the Kellogg community also showed up to Friday's protest. In total, more than 100 people gathered outside the high school, claiming the school is restricting the student's right to free speech.
"I think it was successful for us getting at least our point across that we should have a stand and a say," said Korn Leeling, a junior at Kellogg High School. "I feel that we also didn't win because I feel as though they aren't going to let him walk and I think he should be able to walk."
Superintendent Lance Pearson says the students who walked out Friday will be marked as absent with no excuse. Even with the walkout and protest, Pearson says the student will still be barred from participating in the graduation ceremony.
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