Like all parents of Sprayberry High School students who graduated in May, Linda Ramirez took her seat in the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center and began searching for her daughter, Ashlynn Rich, in the sea of caps below her.
But when she realized her child was not among the crowd of students, her heart sank.
“We just kept looking for her,” Ramirez said. “By that point, it was too late.”
Rich — who has Down syndrome — was sequestered with five of her special needs peers behind the stage, unable to enjoy the festivities alongside her general education classmates, her mother said.
The six students were unable to see the speakers or the stage, were escorted out of the center before the turning of the tassels and received their diplomas in a quick procession before any of their other peers.
“It was a minimization of her accomplishments,” Ramirez said.
Credit: Annie Mayne
Credit: Annie Mayne
Rich graduated with honors, earned the title of scholar athlete for her participation on the school’s swim team and is already a small business owner.
The 19-year-old runs Pop Queen Baked Goods, a cake pop business where she caters special events and does pop-ups at markets. She hopes to go to college to study culinary arts, and become an even better baker.
In an email to the Marietta Daily Journal, the Cobb County School District said parents of students with special needs are given choices for how they want their child’s graduation to be celebrated.
“... the graduation experience for some of our special needs students did not meet our standard. Our schools are expected to offer customized graduation options for special needs students, which did not happen as fully as we expect,” the email reads. “Every graduate deserves to be fully celebrated and every special needs family can expect to be given options which work best for their child.”
Ramirez said she was given the option to have Rich graduate in a small ceremony at Sprayberry, with all her peers in the main ceremony at KSU or both.
The mother clarified the most important ceremony to their family — who had made arrangements to see Rich graduate — was at KSU.
But it wasn’t until moments before the ceremony began that Ramirez became aware that her daughter would not be fully included in the commencement and instead segregated from the celebration.
“For (our family) to come for a 30-second program was not fair,” Ramirez said.
The Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta issued a statement in regards to Rich’s graduation, congratulating her for her achievements and calling for greater inclusion of people with Down syndrome in schools.
“... every student deserves to be celebrated for their accomplishments, regardless of their abilities. When we exclude anyone, we lessen the whole group. Ashlynn and her Class of 2024 classmates deserved to be celebrated as the group that they are and not as an incomplete version of it,” the statement reads.
The mother and daughter have moved between Cherokee County and Cobb County throughout Rich’s academic career. Ramirez said the difference in inclusion between the two public school districts is stark.
“The Cobb County School system praises themselves on being inclusive, but they are not,” Ramirez said. “... It’s been a fight (in Cobb) to keep her included.”
Ramirez said in Cherokee County Schools, Rich was integrated with general education students and accommodations were made for her in the classroom. In Cobb, she’s been placed only in small groups with other students who have disabilities.
“Part of that was because of COVID ... We can’t control what happened in COVID,” Ramirez said. “... But in Cherokee, she was fully included.”
Ramirez said the district has offered to allow Rich to walk at the end of the summer school session, or after she completes her two-year transition program in the district.
But for Rich, that once-in-a-lifetime moment is gone.
“I’m disappointed about sitting in the back of the stage,” Rich said. “I wanted to sit in front.”
At this point, Ramirez said, she is looking for a formal, public apology from Sprayberry and the school district. Her only real hope, though, is that the district learns from this graduation and strives for more inclusive ceremonies in the future.
“Every struggle and every fight that we make with our special needs kids is not just for our kids. It’s for the better of the kids following behind,” Ramirez said. “These strides are so that these kids and people who have Down syndrome are going to have a better education of acceptance. A better life of acceptance. Full inclusion. We’re fighting for full inclusion, still, in 2024.”
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
MEET OUR PARTNER
This story is published via a content-sharing agreement between the AJC and the Marietta Daily Journal. Visit them online at mdjonline.com
If you have any feedback or questions about our partnerships, you can contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams via email at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
