Posted on 06/09/2006 6:52:36 AM PDT by SmithL
RICHMOND - During the bittersweet farewell to high school Thursday night, seniors Andrea Mallory and Liliana Valenzuela donned their red caps and gowns, ascended the steps of the Richmond Convention Center stage and grasped the hand of their principal.
After four years at Richmond High, both girls captured a spot on the honor roll. Both plan to attend college. Both dream of entering medicine; Mallory for physical therapy, Valenzuela for nursing.
When Mallory descended the wooden steps, she left proudly clutching a facsimile of the diploma she will pick up next week.
Valenzuela held her own certificate. But in a way, she left empty-handed. She does not qualify for a diploma after failing the English part of the high school exit exam -- a denial she keenly felt during the ceremony.
"I am not OK with that," Valenzuela said.
In what marks a historic moment in California education, nearly 42,000 seniors will not be eligible for a diploma this spring after failing the California High School Exit Exam, a rule that was enforced for the first time this year.
Some of those students lack enough credits for a diploma. However, from 9,000 to 22,000 students will not graduate with their class solely because of the test, according to a state Department of Education estimate.
At Richmond High, a brick compound in the heart of what is known as the state's most dangerous city, nearly a third of the 346 students in the class of 2006 stumbled over the test, having to take it more than once. Paul Ehara, West Contra Costa school district spokesman, said 66 of them will not receive diplomas because of the exam.
"It is a very different graduation," said counselor Carlos Taboada.
As tensions rose throughout the year, the campus morphed into the epicenter of the ongoing fight over the exit exam. Five Richmond seniors formed a core group of plaintiffs who sued the state and California Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell over the test in February.
Three named in the complaint -- Valenzuela, Mayela Barragan and honor student Laura Echavarria -- fell short on the exam. Plaintiffs Mayra Ibanez and honor student Noemi Cervantes have since passed it and dropped out of the suit, said Jessica Miller, spokeswoman for law firm Morrison & Foerster, which filed the complaint.
On Thursday, Cervantes waited to take her seat in the auditorium, alternately smiling and nervously teetering on her rhinestone heels. She is headed off to college in Tulsa, Okla., but she seemed painfully aware that her friends will leave only with a worthless sheet of paper.
"I'm happy," Cervantes said, "but at the same time, I'm sad because my friends didn't pass."
Throughout the ceremony, speakers touched on the controversy. Student Patricia Corvera, nearly censored for her speech, decried the test and said all students deserved their diplomas.
School board member Dave Brown tipped his hat to the seniors who sued.
"To the five women ... that have so much courage, I pay tribute to you. The history books will prove you were right," said Brown, who in April proposed that the school board allow the students to graduate regardless of the test.
"Please do not listen to those who say it's impossible," Brown said. "Si se puede, si se puede."
Valenzuela clapped. Echavarria thrust her arms in the air, loosening the white band tied to her wrist in protest of the test.
Though the specter of the controversial test hung in the air, some happy Richmond High graduation traditions brought jubilation.
The band pounded out Santana before segueing into "Pomp and Circumstance." Before the celebratory tossing of the caps, students shifted their tassels from left to right, just on cue.
Afterward, the students sauntered out of the auditorium to the rhythms of "Black Magic Woman."
Mallory celebrated in a blue and green frock from Nicole's in Marin, the hard-won result of money saved from slinging fries at McDonald's in El Cerrito.
The 17-year-old leaves for Knoxville College in Tennessee at the end of summer.
What she will miss about being home in Richmond: singing "I will Bless the Lord" with her mom, Carole Ford, at the Bethel Temple, their Pentecostal church. Strumming India.Arie songs on an acoustic guitar in her room.
The best memories she will carry away from high school: jumping into Beaver Creek fully clothed with friends on a school trip to Lake County. Stealing her first kiss. Plucking out her first gray hair, which she attributed to Advanced Placement calculus. ("It was right here," she says, pointing to a patch of bangs.)
But the most unforgettable aspect of her senior year, she said, was the battle over a test that kept 66 of her classmates from graduating this year.
"I think the biggest thing I'll remember is the exit exam," Mallory said. "I have friends who still haven't passed it, and they're just as smart."
During the ceremony, Valenzuela sat in the back with Cervantes, Echavarria and the honors students who traditionally pick up their diplomas after everyone else. In the audience sat Valenzuela's 3-year-old daughter, Aileen, and mother Adelma Ojeda.
Finally, her name boomed from the speakers.
She stepped to the podium under the bright lights, the last to walk the stage.
Maybe this be why she dunno enuff Ingrish?
A High School Diploma is supposed to mean something.
I will never forget the day we went to pick up graduation gowns a few days before graduation after completing four long years of high school. lol. Everyone was all excited and we were placed in alphabetical order. The guy who was in front of me was the same guy who had sat in back of me all four years of homeroom. He stepped up next to get his goan. He yelled out his name and then The Vice Principal said, "Sorry you are not graduating. You did not pass English this year." Well I was next and I was thinking "oh great. I hope my parents paid all the tuition" (Catholic school). I luckily squeeked by with regards to tuition and grades. I feel bad for the kid especially two days before graduation finding out and he was crying. It was kinda a weird situation, but that was the system they used for us and I guess it seems California is using their system. Everyone needs to live by the rules of the school.
Yeah, like what was the point of even being there if you aren't getting a diploma?
Ping to #37
Around here, if they don't meet all the requirements for graduation (including passing the exit exams) they aren't allowed to participate in the ceremony.
I think that's as it should be.
That IS as it should be, but until an idiot in robes activist judge was overturned by the California Supreme Court a couple of weeks ago, most school districts in the area were prepared to give diplomas to everyone.
"They also have a total of 6 times to take and pass these exams. Once in the 10th grade, twice in the 11th and 3 times in their senior year.
After taking it the first time, and if they fail it, they know where they need extra help. Also, a passing grade is 55% (in math, I believe) and 60% on the English portion."
Oh, there's no doubt that students pretty much need to be rocket scientists to pass a testing regime as rigorous as this. In fact, many CA high school graduates go on to pass remedial English and math courses in college. A non-trivial percentage of them have to repeat those remedial courses, but many of them eventually make it and then don't drop out of college until later.
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