TOPEKA, Kan. - If expanding the guest list to include Michelle Obama at graduation for high school students in the Kansas capital city means fewer seats for friends and family, some students and their parents would prefer the first lady not attend.
A furor has broken out over what the Topeka school district considers an honor after plans were announced for Obama to address a combined graduation ceremony for five area high schools next month at an 8,000-seat arena.
Some were upset over the prospect of a tight limit on the number of seats allotted to each graduate. For others, it was the notion that Obama’s speech, tied to the 60th anniversary of the U.S.Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in schools, would overshadow the students’ big day.
“I’m a single mother who has raised him for 18 years by myself,” said Tina Hernandez, parent of Topeka High School senior Dauby Knight. “I’ve told him education is the only way out. This is one of the biggest days of their lives. They’ve taken the glory and shine from the children and put it on Mrs. Obama. She doesn’t know our kids.”
Hernandez was among the parents and students who spoke at a School Board meeting and urged district officials to reconsider their decision to invite Obama. Ron Harbaugh, spokesman for the Topeka school district, said Friday that discussions were under way to work out the logistics and planning for the event.
Harbaugh said officials asked President Barack Obama or the first lady to speak at graduation as a tie-in with the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision.The district plans to place a priority on seating students and their families and could broadcast the event to an overflow room at a hotel adjacent to the graduation arena for those unable to find a seat inside.
That’s not good enough for Taylor Gifford, 18, who started an online petition to urge the district to reconsider its plans. More than 1,200 people had signed it by Friday.
Gifford said her initial reaction to the news was excitement, saying she was “freaking out” about the prospect of the first lady speaking at graduation. When rumors of limited tickets surfaced, Gifford felt like the focus was being shifted from the students to Michelle Obama.
“People think it’s a great opportunity, but it’s the graduates’ time. They are getting that diploma that they worked so hard for,” Gifford said. “Families are feeling that they are being cheated out of the loved ones’ special day.”
Messages seeking comment from the first lady’s office in Washington were not immediately returned Friday.
Some people have said the first lady’s visit would politicize the graduation. Others have suggested that if she wants to mark the Brown anniversary, she should visit the site that commemorates the decision, which is just a few blocks from the graduation venue.
The Brown site is housed in a former all-black school where the lead plaintiff ’s daughter and another plaintiff’s child in the desegregation case were students. It tells the story of the 1954 Supreme Court decision.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 04/19/2014