MARIETTA, Ga. — A Cobb County Superintendent is apologizing after a group of students from Sprayberry High School were excluded for alleged discriminatory reasons from their graduation.
High school graduation should be a time to celebrate all students and their hard work, but students like Ashlynn Rich, a class of 2024 honors student diagnosed with Down syndrome, didn't get the full experience.
Her classmates were kept out in the hallway during the school's graduation ceremony held at Kennesaw State University.
11Alive reached out for comment on June 13, here's what a district spokesperson said:
“Every parent, in every Cobb school, chooses how their special needs child is celebrated. Although initial reports indicated those choices were offered to this parent, our expectation, and the parent’s, was not fully met. Some Cobb families choose a full graduation ceremony, some choose to protect their child from noise and attention in a variety of ways.
Every child and family’s needs are discussed individually, and confidentially, so the unique needs of our special needs students are met.”
On the evening of June 13, Rich spoke during public comment at the Cobb County Board of Education meeting.
"I felt mistreated and discriminated against because I was not allowed to sit with my classmates," Rich said. "I don't want any other student to go [through] what I did."
Several attendees wore red shirts to show their support. Rich was not the only public commenter to speak about Sprayberry's graduation.
"[Ashlynn's] exclusion was not just an oversight, it was a significant and painful moment of discrimination," Rich's mother, Linda Ramirez, said during her comments. "The act of segregation not only hurt Ashlynn, but also sent troubling messages about how we value our students with disabilities."
Ramirez noted in her statement that this was not the first time the county had segregated Rich and other special needs students. She has filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.
Multiple commenters, both those speaking about Sprayberry's graduation and about other issues, argued that the Cobb BOE has supported and implemented policies that suppress diversity.
During his remarks, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale spoke about the exclusion at Sprayberry's graduation, saying it "deeply concerned" the board. He was unable to provide full details on the investigation but stated that it was a "personnel, not a policy, matter."
Ragsdale also shared that the investigation has led to a review of district policies, including ensuring that parents of special needs students have input into whether and how much their students participate in graduation ceremonies, something he noted has been practiced for years. But as a result of this year's events, Ragsdale has begun working to further formalize the process.
"What occurred in this instance was not a failure of policy, but appears to be the decision made by an individual employee," Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale apologized to Rich and her family on behalf of the district.
