I like to think of myself as a forward-thinking bird. A bird of vision.
Admittedly much of that vision is limited to planning out what I am going to do for summer vacation, but then again, I’m a journalist and vacation is what keeps me going.
Apparently board members of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District are also pining away for summer vacation, because it appears that was the only forward thinking they were doing when they decided to continue to hold the graduation ceremonies of all three of the district’s high schools on the same day, and at the same time.
In a release, district Superintendent Mark Richardson cited staffing concerns and the recent violence in the city as the reasons compelling the district to continue holding the ceremonies simultaneously.
“These public events are the largest we host all year,” Richardson said in the statement. “Given the issues taking place in our community, I believe it is best to host these events during the day when we have a full team of staff available. Safety is our top priority.”
A petition objecting to the scheduling is making the rounds over the Internet and had collected 530 signatures as of press time. Petition supporters explained their frustration with not being able to see multiple friends or relatives graduate.
The district was less than moved, reminding parents in the release that there will be video available on the district’s website.
That was no consolation to one petition supporter, by the name of Jessica.
She said she felt frustrated because her daughter would be graduating from Pioneer Valley High School, while her niece was graduating from Santa Maria High School. The problem was a little more personal to Jessica than just wanting to see both students graduate.
Several years ago, when her sister Vicky lost her battle with cancer, Jessica took custody of two of her sister’s children. The third went to live with her father who sent her to Santa Maria High.
Jessica and her family want desperately to be there in honor of Vicky and in a show of support for Vicky’s daughter/Jessica’s niece. Now the family feels forced to choose, which Jessica said will make one or the other student feel less important.
Other supporters of the petition posted that the “moment the district chose to change the schedule was the moment they decided that graduation was not about the teens who suffered and worked hard for four years,” but about district personnel, schedules, and time.
Yet another commenter said that the current state of violence in the city is exactly the reason that the district should support individual ceremonies highlighting a hard-earned achievement.
“We need more opportunities to celebrate, not less,” she said.
Meanwhile, members of the One Community Action Coalition have been meeting monthly to address the crime in the area and develop ways to prevent it. The theme at the coalition’s Jan. 28 meeting, and in fact at various secular and commission meetings all over the city, is that much of the violence starts with youth.
In September, Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Director of Student Services Peter Flores tapped Michael Fuentes, the program coordinator for the Santa Maria Youth and Family Center to help assemble the coalition. Fuentes said that in order to change things it will take a fundamental reappraisal of how the schools and law enforcement deal with the youth. He said often the kids are abused at home and then further abused by the school system.
And at a Jan. 13 collaborative meeting between the EconAlliance and the United Way that addressed the income disparity between north and south counties, 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr drew a parallel between poverty and the lack of a high school diploma citing the 68 percent of North County residents who lack a diploma and also fall below the measure of income needed to meet basic needs to live in North County.
Crime, poverty, and a lack of education often go hand in hand in hand.
So why not place a bigger emphasis on celebrating these graduations individually?
Get ready because my forward-thinking mind is thinking straight forward to the next district board meeting. I expect the public comment period to be a lively one.
The Canary is dreaming of long days on the beach for summer vacation. Email her at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 4-11, 2016.