Bonny Eagle High School Student Denied Diploma for Blowing a Kiss

Adam,

God bless youfor serving our country.  I'm with you brother on the school issue.  It is sad to see a group of infantile egomaniacs running our educational programs.  These people get in a position of authority and abuse it.  Not letting this young man graduate will have a profound effect on the rest of his life.  It is sad to see the little things that are focused on that hurt no one.  This action was not offensive or done with malice.  The young mans appears to have been taught love and compassion by his family and now he is punished for it.  And punished severly.  There are so many other large worle issues, these school officials really need to get a life and they all should be fired.  One is coward that hides behind polocies that they bend to excuse thier own ignorant behavior.

Here is what I think happened at this graduation. Supposedly a big inflated rubber duck was being tossed around. Maybe a few other tiny things were going on that the administration wasn't effectively managing. So when this student got up there and blew this kiss to his folks the principle or whoever saw it as a last straw because he/she was probably already infuriated about the duck and all. Needless to say everything that was going on at this graduation was normal! At my graduation we had a beach ball. We didn't bounce it around constantly, but if there was an anecdotal type of message being said in one of the speaches, there went the beach ball, up in the air, reflecting the lightheartedness of the day. MANY of our classmates blew a kiss to their families. During graduation practice we were talked to about behavior. It included no mooning i.e. dropping your pants as you cross the stage. Timeliness, if you were late, they couldn't get you into line order. Your cap and gown could not be altered and if you forgot your hat another one would not be available. No facial jewelry. Things like that man, not blowing a kiss to your own family. It'd been different if the student grabbed one of the teachers by surprise and planted one on her lips without consent. This is just an administration that is clearly out of touch with its students, its expectations, and what it means to celebrate an accomplishment. I think the whole ceremony should be rescheduled and everyone of those students should be allowed to walk again. A redo if you will so that this nonsense can be laid to rest.

Good Grief People!!!!!!!!

Adam,

I so could not have put it any better. This has to be one of the dumbest things I've heard in a long time. Give the kids their damn diplomas!

Dave

Adam,

Thank you for your service.

I agree with you. This is ridiculous. This is infringement on this child's First Amendment rights to free expression, that men like you fight for! If I was this child's parent, I would take this case to court!

I believe Ms. Lukas has made a very large mistake.  This was not handled well.  I can see how four years ago, Silly String could have been a mess, but still not the end of the world.  Come on, Justin bowed, blew a kiss and pointed at his friends.  That is not misbehaving…that is contained excitement.  Now Justin Denney will never have the wonderful memory of a great graduation day.  He has forever lost that chance, and you, Ms. Lukas, can’t give that back to him.

It's because that superintendant is INSANE.  She was the superintendant of my old high school, before she transferred to Bonney Eagle, and she is honestly off her rocker.

I TOTALLY agree with you. This is ridiculous. When my sister graduated this year, there was a few jokes and laughs. But not being able to get a diploma for such a stupid reason is outrageous. I mean, when i saw this on yahoo i thought it meant that he kissed a gitrl or something. But to blow a kiss to your FAMILY because you love them for helping and supporting you throughout your tough school life doesn't mean that you get banned from your diploma that you aimed for since u were little

Wow, i can't believe you're in iraq

I just graduated from a non-traditional high school in Las Vegas, NV. Kids from every walk of life graduated and you know what our principle did to greet us at the steps? She hugged every single one of us and told us how great we were for working this hard. She told us this was the beginning of our lives and we above all people should be exceptionally proud of ourselves because we worked hard and DESERVED to graduate. She then told us to receive our diplomas in a manner we thought expressed ourselves. Not one person there did anything obnoxious but everyone of us did something. I threw my arms (one of which is completely covered in tattoo) and blew a kiss to parents . That is how a graduation should be. I truly believe Ms. Lukas not only needs to make a public statement apologizing for denying those kids what they undenyably deserved, but she also needs to resign, but that will never happen because it is right, and people just don't care what's right anymore.

I agree 100% Adam. I am a mother of a son going into that same high school in the fall and now we are having to reconsider that!! How sad is that a superendant can be so unrealistic..  I have and many other emailed her and othe rin the district and think something should be done about it!!! A simple bow and kiss to his family is NOT misbehaving. To me it is an honorable thank you from a son to his family for their support. I hope this lady(if u can call her that) gets fired, becasue she should not be running a school district!!!! 

I agree. Eith all the vicious crap happening in schools for that moronic principle to over-react is really a crime and she should be fired. Or if she was smart, a public apology would at least show she is sane to some degree. Of course, did she want the kiss herself?

Thank you, Adam.  Someone needs to make a drastic move regarding this story.  I am in Florida, and I have no ties to that community, and even so, I am disgusted.  Fire her!!!Fire her!!!Fire her!!!!

I'm starting a petition online that will show how ridiculous this school superintendent has shown herself to be.  Good grief!!!!

All publicity, Bonny, is not good publicity........YOU MORONS!!

If I only knew half of the story that I would be upset also. This kid in not innocent, not at all. He and the rest of his classmates signed a code of ethics. This was an agreement between him, all of his classmates, his school and all the parents of all the students. Blowing a kiss is not what this kid did, the band around his neck was the biggest issues.

The students were explicitly told not to wear these bands, they were not part of the graduation uniform and they were not allowed. He hid it under his graduation gown and while walking to the stage, pulled the band out. This is when he made the gestures that everyone thinks is "so cute". He wasn't blowing kisses, this was an act of defiance, plane and simple. He thought that he was being funny.

His father should be ashamed.

here here !!!!!!! Your honesty is great!!! And i completely agree!!!

Adam,

If blowing a kiss or having a little fun was all that happened then I would agree with you 100% That is not the case. He and others were specifically not to do something (watch the video and look for the cord around his neck). They knew what the consequences would be, not getting their diploma handed to them that night. 

I know that I get punished if break a rule, I bet the same goes for you!

Don't get me wrong, maybe they should be able to have their non-academic adornments. Maybe not. If he was making a stand then stand by it, don't hide behind false truths.

what a shame you're a stupid soldier. i do not support troops who choose to kill. we are not interested in your opinions. help support peace, do not fight.

The student has punk'd you all.  It is purely a sensationalized headline, no irony or poetic justice. The student was flaunting some fake honor cords made by his MOM, not authorized or given to him by the school. Did you seriously think the diploma was denied for blowing a kiss to his mom? And the diploma was not denied, just the formal presentation at the ceremony. But the student refused to pick his diploma up at the school. The student then kept saying he had no diploma for over a week, while giving multiple interviews. Did you know the code stated that if a student did not get his diploma at the ceremony, it was to be picked up at the school the following Monday? The only humiliation is of the student by himself and his parents. Oh and there is signicant amounts of humiliation on those who got punk'd by Justin Denney and his family. It appears you are also a victim of Justin Denney. The majority of the people are still behind the superintendent because the majority know all the facts involved. Did you know that part of the reason for the required decorum was because the school was also announcing the awardees of over a $100,000 of scholarships at this time. And that none of the students or parents knew of the awards until this moment. Did you also know the code of conduct did include when celebration could be done by all as a class?

Grow up.  Anarchy does not work or have you not been paying attention to the news since the fall of the Berlin Wall? 

For your information The proper response would have been to stand up and tell the rest of the class that there really is not enough time for such demonstrations.  That alone would have caused a large out rage but not like what you did.  One kiss is certainly not enough to erase 12 years or so of work.  When I initially read the head lines I thought that he may have gotten on stage and done something like kissing his homosexual lover in front of the whole class.  Instead he blew a kiss.  It really doesnt matter to whom.  It was not an overt userpsion of your power.  It was a small show of affection to his mom no less.

Get over yourself and offer a public apology before your school district gets sued and fires you.

I am with you Jeff.   People who hate kids should not be in education!   Some adults have completely forgotten what kids are about.    And I agree with Adam.  This was harmless and pushing so far in this direction will only lead to more problems.

This is out right crazy,I feel very badly for the child,my youngest daughter Graduated 7 Jun 2009 most of the kids blew kisses towards their friends and family and the teachers and Principles were just as happy.

The person who gave this insane punishment to the Kid should be brought to justice.It will scar him for the rest of his life.I feel as tought it happened to one of my kids,and It makes me very mad,