Whether or not the girls should be allowed to walk is a policy decision. If it were up to me, I'd let them walk. But then, I'm probably too much of a softie to be running a school district.

But what statutes are you claiming the school district is violating, Gail. Do you know, or are you just making that up? I always get a little leery when the Bee starts interpreting statutes for us.

Hi, Mike: No need to take my word for it. The policy judgments are coming from Jill Larson, a consultant with the state Department of Education's assessment, evaluation and support unit.

Here are some excerpts from Anne Dudley Ellis' story in The Bee:

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Larson, with the state Department of Education, said the district will be "out of compliance" if it doesn't allow the sisters to walk in graduation ceremonies.

Larson described the education code's guidelines for special education students participating in graduation ceremonies as "pretty inclusive."

Section 56391 of the education code says special education students who meet specified criteria "shall be eligible to participate in any graduation ceremony ... in which a pupil of similar age without disabilities would be eligible to participate."

The education code says students can participate in graduation by satisfactorily completing a "prescribed alternative course of study," or by meeting goals determined by teachers and others who made up the student's "education team."

Larson said the education code does spell out what special education students are entitled to, which, Larson said, "trumps any board policy."

That's a pretty clear directive that Clovis Unified has permission from the state to let the girls walk if it wanted to do so.

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For reasons I cannot fathom, the administrators don't want to.

Let them walk or sue the Clovis School District. They can't be as dumb as Fresno State,or can they?

It is ridiculous that CUSD wont let them walk in graduation. They chose to take the harder courses and passed a portion of the exit exam which is more than some abled students can do. I believe they would be more than willing to keep taking the math part of the test until they pass. They have worked hard and deserve to graduate with class and their friends.

I'm willing to let them walk; however, the parents chose the more difficult path, knowing very well that the girls could fail and not graduate. To me it's the parents fault for misleading their daughters. Now they want the rules changed. Sorry!

The fact of the matter is that these girls as nice and sweet as they may be have not met the graduation requirements of the district. The Ed Code says they can walk, but the district's policy is more stringent which (as I understand) is perfectly legal. They can be more stringent, just not more lax.

If these young ladies are allowed to walk, then what about all the other non-special-ed students who didn't pass the exit exam? Will they be allowed to walk as well? If I were a parent of one of those students, I would raise holy hell if these girls were allowed and my kid wasn't.

After reading all of the comments posted, I am baffled by how ignorant so many people are about the situation. To answer Ernie’s question, California State Policy section 56391 of the education code states that any student, special education or not, “shall be eligible to participate in any graduation ceremony… in which a pupil of similar age without disabilities would be eligible to participate.” We are not just fighting for Alyssa and Amanda. We are also fighting for the other 40 plus special needs students and students who are not mentally disabled at all but did not pass the high school exit exam. Being able to walk on a stage with your graduating class has absolutely nothing to do with receiving a diploma. I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that we are fighting for my sisters to receive a diploma. This is not the base of our actions. We just want them to be able to participate in a celebration of their completed high school career. That’s it, nothing more.
And to set Al straight. Here is some information no one has bothered to mention.
Our parents were given the decision to register both Alyssa and Amanda to be on the graduating track and receive a diploma or take the vocational or life skills classes and receive a certificate of completion. Obviously they chose to put them on the graduating track, but what the school failed to inform them about was that if they failed the graduating track the CUSD policy wouldn’t allow them to walk at graduation. But if Alyssa and Amanda completed the vocational classes, they would have been able to walk regardless if they passed the exit exam or not. Our parents are being told that they were in fact informed about these circumstances and that the school has signed forms proving that they knew about it. Nobody did inform our parents and they asked to see the papers that they supposedly signed. Conveniently enough those forms have been misplaced and cannot be located at the moment. Hmm… I wonder why.
While I am commenting I would like to thank all of you who are supporting us. There needs to be more kind hearted people in this world to make up of all of the cold blooded pessimists taking up space.