29-05-2025
Sorry, Clovis students. No graduation ceremony if you break the rules
Two of my close friends in high school got in big trouble the last week before our graduation.
It was 1977 in Santa Barbara, and we seniors were attending class with as little effort as possible. We suffered from 'senioritis,' and were already done with San Marcos High School, even if the diplomas still had to be handed to us.
In a moment of boredom one of those final school mornings, my friends decided to skip class and do something more fun. They hopped into one guy's dune buggy — a souped-up Volkswagen Bug — and drove the bright-yellow, loud vehicle up hallways on campus.
They got caught. Their rule-breaking stunt disqualified them from many activities planned for seniors before graduation.
The memory came back to me in light of some students at Clovis North and Buchanan high schools who got busted for having alcohol on a party bus headed to their May 3 prom.
A Bee account by staff writer Nick Fenley said about 30 students were involved in the alcohol caper.
Of those, about nine students took responsibility for their misdeeds after Clovis Unified School District officials encouraged the youths to admit to their involvement.
An attorney representing the students told Fenley that the seniors who came clean won't be able to take part in their graduation ceremony.
The other kids did not admit to any wrongdoing and don't face the same penalty, said lawyer Steve Smith.
One of those who self-reported expressed remorse to the Clovis Unified school board.
'I made a huge mistake being on a limo bus that contained alcohol. I felt lost and pressured to do things that didn't align with what actually happened that night. But at the end of the day, I went and stood in the line that I understood was admitting to alcohol being on the bus,' one student said in a statement read by Smith.
Some of the students pleaded with the school board to be allowed to take part in graduation by saying they had high grade-point averages, participated in extracurricular activities and boasted a history of attending Clovis Unified schools.
But Kelly Avants, the chief communications officer for Clovis Unified, said Tuesday that the district would not relent on its stance.
Students sign a 'Senior Expectations and Graduation Ceremony Contract,' which makes clear that violating its terms results in being denied the chance to take part in the graduation ceremony.
Clovis North also has a dance contract that makes clear disciplinary action awaits any student who is found to have used drugs or alcohol before a school dance.
High school seniors have been getting in trouble ever since graduation ceremonies began. That is why districts came up with specific rules governing acceptable behaviors.
The Clovis Unified students who got disqualified from graduation are suffering right now — both Buchanan and Clovis North hold their ceremonies next week. But they are also learning a final high school lesson: Rules are not made to be broken, but followed.
From a yellow VW bug to a limo bus, that instruction is always the same — and that's a good thing.
