School Gives Diplomas Despite Cheering Ban

Nadia Trent still wants an apology, but for now she'll settle for getting the diploma her high school withheld from her and four other students when cheers erupted for them at their graduation.

Galesburg High School officials said Wednesday they would issue diplomas to the five students who were denied them over cheering during the May 27 commencement, a violation of a school policy aimed at restoring graduation decorum.

"I'm just happy it's over," said Trent, who will study at Western Illinois University in the fall. "If they would have apologized, it would have been better."

School officials defended the decorum policy, but said the stalemate over the diplomas and the attention it attracted took up valuable time and energy.

"It is time for the good of the community, the school district, the families and the students involved to move on .... I have decided to grant to the students involved their diplomas," Superintendent Gene Denisar said in a written statement.

Denisar cited talks with the Illinois State Board of Education, which has said it cannot support the district's decorum policy because it makes students responsible for behavior they cannot control.

Trent says there were no cheers, just relief, when she picked up her diploma Wednesday afternoon. But she says she won't be satisfied until school officials apologize for ruining her graduation night and banning her from a post-graduation party.

Jeffrey Green, a lawyer for the students, said he will speak to the students to see if they want him to pursue an apology from the school district.

Students and their parents signed a contract about a month before graduation promising they would not disrupt the ceremony. Violators were warned they could be denied their diplomas and barred from an after-graduation party, but still would officially graduate and receive their transcripts.

School officials say the policy followed complaints after a 2005 commencement where shouts and air horns drowned out much of the ceremony in this central Illinois town of about 34,000 people.