[heleny]

Graduating from high school is an achievement that should be celebrated, particularly for a lot of inner city teens.

I totally agree. This part of LAUSD isn't the inner city, though. They are in the San Fernando Valley, which is trying to secede from Los Angeles. (not sure of the details about exactly which parts, or whether all of these schools are included.)

list of affected schools, according to the article:
Birmingham, Cleveland, Grant, Reseda, Taft, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, and Valley Alternative

Taft High School has won the national Academic Decathlon twice (at least once in the past ten years, I think).

[Real Cynic No More]

Even if not an inner-city school, denying eligible individuals the opportunity to participate in graduation ceremonies is discouraging and downright mean. It's elitist and deserves a boycott of the graduation ceremonies by all graduates.