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Trustee Torpey defends refusal to shake graduate's hand; board asks administration to review
Summary
Trustee Jesse Torpey said a student who displayed a Palestine flag and shouted during graduation disrupted the ceremony and he deliberately did not shake the student's hand; trustees asked the policy committee to review code-of-conduct language for ceremonies and directed administration to investigate the incident and the video.
Trustee Jesse Torpey recounted an incident at the district graduation in which a student displayed a Palestine flag and shouted "Free Palestine" on stage. Torpey said he deliberately chose not to shake that student's hand, calling the conduct a disruption of a shared ceremony and outside the code-of-conduct protections offered to students while they remain enrolled.
"Turning a shared ceremony into a personal political platform interrupted the proceedings for every other graduate, family member, and attendee," Torpey said, and asked that the policy committee consider adding language that would "forbid with very narrow exceptions the display or use of flags, signs, banners or similar items that disrupt the orderly conduct of the event." Several trustees supported sending the matter to the policy committee for review.
Other trustees cautioned against constraining expression and noted First Amendment concerns and potential slippery slopes. Trustee Douglas said he "cautions bringing anything about expression and speech and legislating that in any way through policy," giving the example of a future graduate wearing a Mexican flag. The board nevertheless reached consensus to have administration review the incident (including video) and to have the policy committee draft tighter language for graduation ceremonies.
