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School bans stoles because they might make other students feel 'less special'

13 Action News got results after investigation
Posted at 5:39 PM, Jun 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-16 11:24:53-04

UPDATE: 13 Action News got a response from CCSD: "Following additional dialogue with Valley High School parents and their students, a decision has been made to allow valedictorians to wear stoles at tomorrow's graduation ceremony."

ORIGINAL STORY

Parents are outraged after a high school bans a long-standing graduation tradition. The valedictorians were told they could not wear their special stoles at Friday's ceremony.

Graduation is a time for pomp and circumstance. It is enough to make any parent proud and maybe even bring a tear to a father's eye.

Kevin Moore, whose son is a graduating senior at Valley High School, said it has been a tradition for the valedictorian to wear a stole, acknowledging their accomplishments. Moore wants his son Lukas to be able to take part in that tradition. Lukas and 14 other students tied, making 15 valedictorians. But then, they got some news.

"About two weeks ago he came home and announced that, 'hey we're not going to have a stole, they're going to give us a medal,'" Moore recalled his son telling him.

Moore said it would be impossible to see the medal from the stands at the Orleans Arena, where they are holding graduation. When he asked the school why, he said they told him the medal was enough.

"They felt like that that was good enough, even though the tradition at valley has always been a gold stole," Moore said.

But he kept asking, and the school told him his son would not get to wear a stole because they didn't want the other students to feel less special. But after four years of hard work, Moore thinks Lukas deserves this recognition.

"It's sad," said Moore. "It's so sad. It's a simple, simple display of what they've done---the time, the work, the effort. It upsets me terribly."

13 Action News reached out to the Clark County School District. They said the valedictorians will get a medal, and that graduation attire is decided by each school. We asked why they would not be allowed to wear stoles, and a few hours later we got a text message. Moore said school officials let him know the valedictorians would be allowed to wear the stoles.