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Amy Dickes is drawing closer to another painful milestone.

Her daughter, McKenna Smith, should be graduating with her senior class at Waverly High School on May 21. But McKenna died last July, at age 17, after a years-long battle with juvenile Huntington’s disease, a degenerative brain disorder.

Waverly High students approached Dickes about leaving a chair open at graduation to commemorate McKenna. Students had held fundraisers for McKenna while she was ill and wanted to pay tribute to her during graduation. Dickes was touched by their thoughtfulness.

But the idea conflicts with a school board policy that outlines rules for student memorials. Students and Dickes have been told by Waverly administrators that any gestures or memorials would have to take place outside the official graduation ceremony, Dickes said.

Waverly Superintendent Bill Heimann said the district is just trying to be consistent.

“It’s a situation you would never want anyone to have to go through,” he said. “We want to be sensitive to their needs and help to honor their child, while still being consistent with the policy, of course.”