Should Homeschooled Students Be Allowed To Walk In Public School Graduation Ceremonies?
If they make an exception for one student, they'll have to do the same for every student.
Holly D Photography | Shutterstock Traditionally, there’s been some kind of separation between students who are homeschooled and students who attend public school. They can certainly interact with each other and be friends, but there is a marked difference in their education.
Now, as one homeschooled student tries to secure a spot in her local public school district’s commencement ceremony, any lines that existed are being blurred. People are wondering when homeschooled students should and should not be allowed to participate in public school functions, and it has ignited quite a debate.
A high school senior from New York wants to be a part of the local public school’s graduation ceremony even though she was homeschooled.
Reporting for CBS 6 Albany, Briana Supardi explained that one homeschooled student from Gloversville, New York, was not satisfied with simply receiving a high school diploma. Instead, Harmony Jayde Berkowitz-Reyes requested permission to walk in a public school commencement ceremony.
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Despite being homeschooled for the four years of high school, Berkowitz-Reyes insisted that she had followed every standard set by the Gloversville Enlarged School District. “Every 10 weeks, we send a report card in and it has to be signed by the superintendent himself,” she told the outlet. “All of my schooling has to be approved by the end of the year.”
Because Berkowitz-Reyes followed the school district’s guidelines, she felt she had earned the right to walk in its graduation ceremony. She even started a Change.org petition asking that she be allowed to do so. It has garnered over 1,300 signatures.
In the petition’s description, Berkowitz-Reyes explained that she attended public school with her peers until the COVID-19 pandemic. When it was time to return to in-person schooling, she and her family did not feel comfortable with her doing so, given the way all pandemic protections were cast aside. Despite this, she has remained close with her friends and participated in extracurricular activities.
People have widely varying opinions on whether or not Berkowitz-Reyes should be allowed to walk in the graduation ceremony.
As for the school district, their position is clear. Superintendent Dave Halloran released a letter which said, in part, “Far too many students have been denied the graduation ceremony who came up that Lincoln Street hill year after year. If we’re going to deny our public school students who fall just shy of the mark, how can we let somebody in who was never held to the same standards? It’s just not even a real choice for me.”
A man named Chase Holden took the debate to TikTok, where he shared both schools of thought on the issue. “Some people are being supportive, saying that if the parents pay taxes, the student should be able to attend the graduation ceremony,” he said. “Other people think she should not because she didn’t meet the same requirements as the students at that school, while even more people say that she should be able to attend the graduation ceremony because she did meet the requirements.”
As for Holden’s commenters, the answer was a resounding no. A poll from CBS 6 Albany asked if homeschooled students should be allowed to attend public schools’ graduations. 62% of the over 1,100 voters said no.
Homeschooled students don’t always have to meet the same requirements as those in public schools.
While Berkowitz-Reyes argued that her schooling was carefully overseen by the Gloversville Enlarged School District, which could certainly be true, it doesn’t seem like that’s required in all cases. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education said that each state has its own standards that must be met for homeschooling, and some are stricter than others.
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This means it’s very possible that if students were just generally allowed to participate in public school graduation ceremonies despite being homeschooled, the students receiving recognition could have followed vastly different guidelines to get there. Even if Berkowitz-Reyes really did follow the district’s standards, it wouldn’t be fair to make an exception for just one student.
As one commenter on TikTok put it, "The kid isn’t getting a diploma from that school though…? Could I have also walked at the graduation at the state school because my taxes went there?"
There's nothing wrong with Berkowitz-Reyes celebrating her milestone with friends who attended the local public school after the ceremony, but perhaps her family should focus on the celebration itself, rather than the actual commencement ceremony.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
