Special education students left out of high school graduation program feel ‘discriminated’

Months of anticipation turned to disappointment when 6 California particular education and learning graduating pupils noticed their names had been not included in their substantial school’s graduation application and their diplomas were not ordered in time for the ceremony.

Wearing his blue button-up shirt and a purple bow tie to match his school’s pirate-themed hues, Joseph Sanchez-Muñoz attended his San Leandro High College graduation on June 9, “super excited to make my loved ones proud,” he informed NBC News.

As a university student dwelling with a uncommon illness right after surviving most cancers as a infant, graduating from superior university is a milestone that holds extra significance for Joseph and his household.

But immediately after learning he and five other special instruction were excluded from the graduation application, he “felt unhappy, depressed,” Joseph, 18, mentioned.

“I felt discriminated,” Joseph’s mom, Elena Muñoz, explained to NBC News. “Why have been the young children not in there? Is it for the reason that they’re exclusive ed little ones? Why did they leave them powering?”

Joseph underwent liver and kidney transplants whilst battling most cancers. He was then diagnosed with Hao-Fountain Syndrome, a unusual disorder brought on by mutations in the USP7 gene that can influence a huge array of bodily and behavioral traits.

“They shattered a instant that I was intended to continue to keep in memory,” Muñoz, 34, who is a well being treatment employee in San Leandro, mentioned. “Not figuring out how prolonged I’m going to have my son, every single milestone, it is a massive milestone.”

The early morning after graduation, Joseph cleaned the frame in which he had planned to location his large university diploma.

Muñoz and a number of of the other mothers and fathers and pupils went to choose up the diplomas up from the college but have been told they would have to wait around a month due to the fact they experienced overlooked to get them, she mentioned.

“The moms just felt like the district didn’t respect us,” Muñoz said.

A spokesperson for the San Leandro Unified College District advised NBC News this form of “clerical error” experienced not earlier occurred in the particular education and learning program’s heritage.

“We are conducting a total review of our graduation processes to be certain that a important error like this does not arise once more in the future,” San Leandro Large College principals explained in a assertion.

As portion of an apology, the faculty promised to hand-provide the diplomas early upcoming 7 days. The family members currently obtained current graduation packages.

Though their names were not originally bundled in the printed graduation system, Joseph and the five other graduates were capable to have their names introduced as they walked throughout the phase the working day of graduation.