Monday, May 14, 2018

News 12 @ 6 O'clock / NBC 26 at 7

NORTH AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – “I absolutely do believe the board had some hand in this. At least to be able to speak it to the schools and ask the schools to speak it to their students as they see fit.”

The Board says…

“Well let’s be clear, that is not a board policy and my understanding about a school policy there had been some mechanism or some way of trying to get students to turn that information in and some may have been overzealous in using some efforts and getting that done.”

Students say…

“This was not a plea to take away graduation tickets or senior privileges, it was just a motivation for the students to turn in their things,” said Janae Green, NAHS Grad.

But here's proof, this isn’t just one school. This Facebook post is from North Augusta High but this e-mail announcement from South Aiken is nearly identical.

At least four Aiken schools have mentioned penalties for not turning in documents.

“We are now going back and doing damage control to make sure no other schools communicate that information,” said Levi Green, Aiken County School Board Chairman.

They're going back to fix things.

“They shouldn’t be saying that they can’t use that as a mechanism.”

But Corey Harper says it goes further back than just this year.

“My first and oldest child graduated in 2013 and that was a part of the stipulation.”

“I will not say and be a part of stating this has been an ongoing problem, no that’s not the case,” said ACSB Chairman Levi Green.

The Board says there's no circumstance in which tickets were taken or would be taken. They call this a motivating tactic. Grad rates are 90 percent across the county and more than 99 percent of students know what their plan is after graduation.

This is something that the district is doing on its own.

“Just making sure that our students have the proper opportunities to be successful in life.”

They say they want to keep track of those students progress. The chairman tells news 12 that is their right and it doesn't violate students' rights.

So the bottom line here is that no one is bounded by these rules. There will be no penalties.

News 12 confirmed that Richmond and Columbia County schools do not have any requirements for their students to fill out post grad plans at the risk of not getting graduation tickets.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

(News 12 at 6 o'clock)

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) -- One Aiken County school posted what seemed to be a change in graduation requirements for seniors. After backlash and feedback from the school board, North Augusta High took to social media to explain it's policy.

"When I read it, I felt like I had not read it correctly or it was not written correctly," Tina Oller said.

Oller used to be a substitute for North Augusta High School and her own three children graduated from there. But she's one of the many people who was concerned after reading the NAHS Facebook post which came at the end of last week.

"To put the stipulation that if they don't have those things, or one of those things, for them not to be able to have those tickets for the family

to come see them graduate." Oller continued, "They'll get to walk across the stage but who's going to be there for them?"

According to the post, seniors are to turn in a graduation plan along with one of these three options: A college acceptance letter,

a military contract or an employment verification, and failing to do so would lead to not be able to attend the senior breakfast, along with no graduation tickets.

"But it depends on the child, it depends so much on their ambitions," Oller explained not every kid has a plan after graduation. "Some kids go by the 'seat of their pants' and they make it. Everybody is not going to be the same."

So her question is this - why treat them all the same, and why penalize students who cannot or have not completed any of the three documents?

NAHS principal took to Facebook to respond explaining it is the school's intention to motivate students to post-secondary opportunity.

Principal Murphy also clarified, failing to provide the originally stated required documents, would not lead to students losing their graduation tickets.

The Chairman of the Aiken County School Board, Levi Green, also told News 12 that was neither a school policy nor a county-wide policy. Green explained that no child will lose any kind of privileges for not providing one of three documents.

Oller reflected, "You can see both sides." Adding, "If they got a scholarship or if they had a grant they earned [the school] would want to know. I understand why they would want to know [everything] because it makes the school look good."