This March, the number of seniors who were on track to not walk the stage at graduation exceeded 120 students, almost a third of the graduating class. According to assistant principal Stephanie Malia, this excess of students on students conduct was primarily due to seniors’ incompletion of the personal finance course. The course became a graduation requirement for the Class of 2016 and all following classes this year.

Anyone who had not completed the course could not attend senior ball, picnic and breakfast, or walk across the stage at graduation. According to Malia, senior conduct and all of its consequences pushed a majority of students to complete the class last-minute.

“We had about 120 letters senior conduct letter sent out in March 2016,” Malia said. “This batch was particularly high because seniors who didn’t complete their personal finance course were put on student conduct until they got it done.”

According to principal David Byrd, the number of seniors on student conduct dropped quickly in the past few weeks.

“For the most part, I feel like the students are focused and they are working very hard and doing all the things that they are supposed to do,” Byrd said. “Their behaviour has been good this year too.”

Counselor Jason Bradley feels that he, along with the other counselors, stressed the importance of completing the course in order to graduate, which resulted in the quick turnaround of student completion.

“I called [students] into my office and called their parents and even required some students to come to my office and work on the class using a chromebook outside my office,” Bradley said. “I’m happy to say that this was successful.”

According to senior Medaya McMahon, the school sent a letter to both her and her parents to explain that she still needed to complete the assignment.

“They threatened me with the idea of not walking the stage and or graduating in general and I was sent a letter notifying me that I had a meeting with Mr. Coleman, a police officer and another advisor and my father was notified as well,” McMahon said.

For the most part, McMahon feels her counselor helped her to complete the course.

“Mrs. Crone pulled me out of class one day and told me that I needed to finish it and she was also very encouraging about it,” McMahon said. “For the next 3 to 4 days, I sat in the college and career center and finished the course.”

According to McMahon, she did not, however, finish the course before the senior ball and picnic.

“I got the course done about done two weeks ago and one day before senior ball but by that time, the admin kept telling me that I couldn’t go for senior ball and the picnic,” McMahon said. “They were just discouraging me so I didn’t buy tickets, a dress and I had already assumed that I couldn’t go.”

Bradley also thinks that encouraging the seniors to complete the course was the first step to decreasing the number of seniors on student conduct.

“As a counselor, I individually called up my students who had not finished or started the course and stressed the importance of completing the course in order to graduate,” Bradley said. “ I think encouraging them to do it more than just simply talking to them helped a lot.”

McMahon feels that she was disappointed about the meeting rather than encouraging her to finish the course.

“They went through all of my records and they showed me my grade and my attendance and where I was on the finance course,” McMahon said. “It kind of disappointed me rather than encouraging me to do it after I saw my attendance and grades.”