Selah seniors want some say on who's part of graduation

SELAH, Wash. — Seniors at Selah High School are all for freedom of speech.

Which means they want to select the keynote speaker at their high school graduation.

They are also asking for the right to choose who hands them their diplomas.

Graduation ceremonies begin at 1 p.m. June 6 in the SunDome.

Traditionally, school board members hand out diplomas to students and the superintendent has been the featured speaker at Selah High graduations.

But the class of 2009 has other ideas.

About 175 seniors (out of a potential 210-230 graduating students) signed a letter addressed to the school board seeking changes to this year's graduation formalities. Most signatures were gathered during a pre-graduation meeting seniors attended last week.

The letter, which was delivered to the administration office Monday, requested that Superintendent Debra Howard not give the keynote speech.

Also, the letter asked that high school staff be in charge of handing out diplomas, rather than any of the five school board members: president Todd Trepanier, Ryan Smith, Leanne Liddicoat, James Sebree and Dwaine Brown.

Saying that he was one of a "collaboration" of seniors spearheading the effort, Trevor Heilman explained Tuesday, "We aren't trying to slam anyone. We're just respectfully saying that we want the focus to be on graduation and not have any distractions."

Heilman said the seniors who signed the letter are concerned that negative feelings on the part of the community toward the superintendent could erupt during graduation ceremonies, which would defeat the celebratory atmosphere they hope to have.

"We want it to be a clean, fun ceremony with no problems in any way," he said.

Phone messages left for Howard, who is in her first year as the district's superintendent, were not returned Tuesday.

Heilman said the seniors aren't necessarily lobbying for Joe Jones, their high school principal, to speak; they know Jones will be participating in the ceremony, regardless, the senior said.

A call to Jones seeking his comment was not returned Tuesday.

A controversy has been simmering in the district since March, when Jones submitted his resignation as principal, effective in June. This came after Jones was told he would not be brought back as the school's principal in the fall.

Several hundred community members and students attended the March school board meeting to protest Jones' resignation, charging that Howard was forcing him to leave his high school post.

Then, in April, Jones rescinded his letter, saying that he never wanted to leave the high school and was hopeful that he could continue to be principal there.

After that, even more people -- nearly 500 -- showed up at the April school board meeting to show support for Jones and urge that Howard not move him to another spot in the district. The school board, as well as Howard, heard public comments at the meeting, but chose not to respond.

The matter remains unresolved. Jones has to be notified by May 15 of his assignment for next year. The school board meets the day before, at 7 p.m. on May 14 in the district office.

Students have been strong supporters of Jones and have signed petitions and organized rallies to show their admiration for him.

Heilman said that there was no direct connection between the graduation letter and the movement to retain Jones.

It was simply a grass-roots effort to keep the graduation event focused on seniors, he said. "We're just making a respectful request. We have no negative feelings toward the school board or the superintendent."

Nor was the letter provoked by anyone outside the senior class, he emphasized. In addition to the student effort, there has been a strong push from parents and community members to bring Jones back.

"Seniors wrote the letter and signed it. No administrators, no principals, no teachers had anything to do with it."

Several calls to Trepanier seeking school board reaction were not answered. Board member Jim Sebree also did not return a call.

Over the past couple months, Trepanier has underscored the board's support for Howard, saying that she has done everything board members have expected her to do.

Heilman said that seniors will accept it if school board members say they don't want to break tradition and decide to continue to hand out diplomas and have the superintendent speak.

"That's OK," Heilman said.

"We don't want to bash anyone, we just want the best graduation it can possibly be."