Spring ISD student claims she is being unfairly left out of graduation ceremony

SPRING, Texas - As hundreds of high school seniors in the Houston area are graduating, a student’s grandmother reached out to FOX 26 with claims that her granddaughter is being unfairly left out.

"We’re just upset, I’m an upset grandmother."

Alice Henry, the grandmother of Rachel Johnson who attends Spring High school,  tells FOX 26, the school dropped the ball on letting them know, the senior did not meet the full requirements to graduate in time.

The school informing the grandmother, Rachel missed a STAAR test and will not be able to walk.

"On May 27, Spring ISD gave me and my daughter a call and said that Rachel Johnson would not be graduating June 6," said Henry. "I was not aware of that until May 27."

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The grandmother said she has issues with that since her daughter, Rachels’ mother, had passed away two years ago.

The family claims a counselor told them she had been trying to get in contact with them for over a year, but was reaching out to the deceased mother. Henry says, she was listed as the emergency contact.

"You had the opportunity to have called me for a year and let me know that my granddaughter was in trouble," said Henry.

Rachel says she did receive an email, but didn’t believe it pertained to her.

"The email was vague, a mass message to student that meet the criteria," said Johnson.

"Throughout my whole senior year, they never did get in touch with me saying, Rachel this is a requirement for graduation," said Johnson. "My counselor, she didn’t tell me anything."

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Johnson is an honor-roll student and says she is heart-broken that she will not be allowed to walk with her friends come Sunday.

"It shows everyone, hey I did it, and I can go to the grave-yard and show my mom I graduated after a long four years of hard work," said Johnson.

FOX 26 reached out to Spring ISD, they released a statement: 

This Spring High School student did not meet TEA requirements to graduate, so she is ineligible to walk the stage at this time. We have been working with the student and her grandmother to ensure all requirements are met this summer so she can graduate in August.

This situation is not unique and is the reason we offer a summer gradation opportunity for students who just need to complete a few requirements. Our goal is to see every senior get their diploma and be able to celebrate with a graduation ceremony.