Request By:
Mr. Charles Ray Fugitt
Principal
Lloyd Memorial High School
Box 99
Erlanger, Kentucky 41018
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert L. Chenoweth, Assistant Attorney General
You have asked the Office of the Attorney General to review your school's policies governing participation in graduation ceremonies by mid-year graduates and also those policies relating to the graduation ceremonies themselves. An example of the latter is the prohibiting of smoking, drinking of alcoholic beverages and the denial of an opportunity to participate in the graduation ceremonies by any student who has not completed the total requirements even though the student lacks only a part of a credit and plans to make it up during summer school. You stated the guidelines concerning mid-year graduates as follows:
1. If a student chooses to graduate in the middle of the year, he/she must discuss the early graduation request with the principal.
2. The student must submit a written statement from the parents stating that they agree with the student's decision.
3. During the conference with the principal, the student is informed that if he/she meets the requirements and chooses to graduate early, he/she will no longer be a member of the class; therefore, he/she will not be entitled to participate in any senior activities such as the senior picnic, senior class dinner, senior dinner dance and, etc. In addition, he/she is informed that he/she will not be permitted to participate in graduation ceremonies. The student is urged to give these matters careful thought before a final decision is made.
The reasons given to support this policy were several and certainly were adequate justification for the policy.
To be reasonably expected, there is no statutory law and only a paucity of case law having any bearing on this matter. The State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education is directed by statute to adopt rules and regulations establishing "the minimum requirements for graduation from the courses offered" in our public common schools. KRS 156.160(3). Additional requirements and other prerequisites may be outlined by a local board of education adopted pursuant to the broad plenary powers given to the local boards in KRS 160.290. Cf. OAG 78-169 and OAG 65-155, copies attached. Upon satisfactorily fulfilling the requirements established, a student is entitled to graduate.
Your inquiry is concerned only with the exercises associated with graduation and the granting of a diploma. The opinion in one case involving graduation and the issuance of a diploma stated:
"The issuance of a diploma by the school board to a pupil who satisfactorily completes the prescribed course of study and who is otherwise qualified is mandatory, and, although such duty is not expressly enjoined upon the board by statute, it does arise by necessary and reasonable implication."
Valentine v. Independent School Dist., 183 N.W. 434, 437 (S. Ct. of Iowa 1921).
The proceedings for the manual delivery of a diploma to a pupil is, then, a purely ministerial act. We are of the opinion that not only are these proceedings themselves but the privilege of participating in the proceedings subject to reasonable regulations and policies of a local board of education.
The primary constraints placed upon a local board of education in the exercise of its discretion in developing rules and regulation are whether such rules and regulations are arbitrary or unreasonable.