Clovis Unified students plan own graduation after admitting to alcohol at prom, two failed appeals

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- There is a last-ditch effort to get eight students on the stage with Clovis Unified graduations just hours away.

"We filed a six-page emergency appeal," attorney Steven Smith said.

He wants the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools to intervene and overturn Clovis Unified's decision to bar some students from walking.

However, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher says she cannot.

"There is no appeal process beyond the local district level for suspensions or the removal of student extracurricular privileges," Cantwell-Copher wrote in a statement to Action News.

"I do not have a role in the matter."

"The wrong example is being sent to the kids here - to lie and deny," Smith said.

Administrators banned his clients from graduation after they admitted to having alcohol on their party bus to prom.

Others who stayed silent were not punished. Smith believes it was a "trick."

"What was the trick?" Action News asked.

"'Hop into the 'admit line,' tell me what you did here, and we're going to treat you better,'" Smith said, referring to what administrators allegedly told his clients at the prom.

The students appealed their discipline to the school board, and in an emotional scene last month, they pleaded their case.

"I am devastated that my family cannot see me walk with my graduating class and celebrate such an important milestone," one teenage boy told board members.

"I promise to you all that this experience was humiliating and that if you reconsider this decision, I will be an example of my experience."

Board members denied the appeal.

The district is standing by its investigation into the incident and the evidence it gathered about which students were drinking.

Officials say they owe it to all students to keep their word on the consequences for drinking, clearly outlined in the senior contract.

"We've raised the fact that minors can't enter into valid contracts," Smith said.

"The contracts here don't specify alcohol as a provision."

With no signs that the students can walk at Buchanan or Clovis North's graduations, the attorney tells Action News they are now considering hosting a private graduation.

At least one Clovis Unified Trustee said he would attend.

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