A Boca Raton mother is upset her twin boys did not get the eighth-grade graduation ceremony they wanted.
Linda Alwais said her boys Brayden and Blake has been looking forward to the end of the year ceremony at Boca Raton Middle School, but they learned that this year, the school was not having a graduation ceremony but an awards ceremony for select students.
“It is a milestone for them,” said Alwais. “They have had it previously and I felt that everyone should be included.”
She said her sons didn’t receive awards, even though they both were on the honor roll and it was tough explaining to them why there was no ceremony.
“With three years of all their hard work, a simple recognition of certificate of achievement would be nice and sets a nice attitude moving forward,” said Alwais.
The Palm Beach County School District said that Boca Raton Middle School decided to do an awards ceremony instead of a moving on ceremony for their 8th-graders because they had too many students. Instead of holding a ceremony for 547 students, 267 were invited to the awards ceremony.
Alwais said she did not feel that was a good enough reason, “If it was a money issue or a time frame, either you do it, it’s all for one or one for all, I think everyone is included or don’t do it at all.”
WPTV reached out to other local school districts to find out their graduation procedures. Martin County said it had one school which did not hold a moving on ceremony but did not give a reason why.
