UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Following two previous meetings that had involved lengthy debates on the topic, the Upper Lake High School District Board voted Wednesday night to separate the graduations of Upper Lake High School and the district's continuation high school, Clover Valley.
The board was split on the topic, with trustees Claudine Pedroncelli and Wanda Quitiquit against the action.
The decision won't affect this year's graduation, when at least two Clover Valley grads are expected to walk the stage with Upper Lake High's graduating seniors.
Superintendent/Principal Patrick Iaccino said the board wasn't comfortable making the change midyear, with students now having the expectation of the shared commencement. Instead, the transition will occur in the 2014-15 school year.
The two schools' graduations have been combined for about a decade, and the matter has come up regularly over the years, according to school officials.
The shared graduation was a discussion item at the board's December meeting as well as a special workshop this past Saturday, when Iaccino said they spent three hours on the topic.
Between those previous meetings and Wednesday night, Pedroncelli and Quitiquit hadn't changed their opposition to the move. Trustee Richard Swaney remained supportive of the separation, and Board President Keith Austin and Trustee Valerie Duncan both indicated the Saturday discussion had brought their support for two ceremonies into focus.
It was Duncan who made the motion at the meeting to separate the ceremonies, with Swaney seconding. Pedroncelli then moved to table the matter, a motion that failed 2-3.
Pedroncelli said she felt there was a “disconnect” between what is happening at Clover Valley and Upper Lake High. “What I see happening is very disheartening to me,” she said, adding that to her the quality of education mattered most.
Iaccino explained that, historically, continuation schools are separate, although Upper Lake and Clover Valley share a variety of facilities and resources, including computer access and online classes.
“I think we provide students many opportunities out there,” Iaccino said.
However, he pointed to Clover Valley High's low attendance rates. “Why aren't they taking advantage of what they're given?”
There are 13 seniors at Clover Valley High right now. “Very few of them come to school,” Iaccino said.
Rather than having them attend Clover Valley, where the standards are less rigid, “I can keep them here,” he said, referring to Upper Lake High, “and guess what they're not going to do in June? They're not going to walk any stage.”
The students won't take the opportunities offered to get a diploma, Iaccino said. “I wish I had the answer.”
Austin told his board colleagues that he would be angry if a vote to separate the ceremonies was construed as anti-student.
Each school has different requirements for attendance and graduation, and they don't have the same curriculum. “Everything that is different about it says to me that we need to have a separate graduation,' Austin said.
“If we're doing anything, we're robbing them of the chance or the opportunity to better themselves” by not requiring them to come to school and get decent grades to graduate, he said.
Austin said he believed the separation was necessary and that it would be effective for children who are “on the bubble.”
“We have to eliminate the possibility that those students are going to abuse the system and not see or recognize the value of what they're getting from their diploma,” Austin said.
The board then took the 3-2 vote to separate the graduations.
Later in the meeting, Pedroncelli said she believed the graduation issue has “far reaching end results,” and that she planned to tour Clover Valley High to get a better sense of what goes on there.
While recognizing that they can't force someone to do something, she said the district had an “obligation to inspire” its students, adding she believed Clover Valley's students are being forgotten. Quitiquit agreed, saying she wanted to find ways to motivate the students.
Swaney said if they sent a motivation speaker to the school there would be no one there for them to talk to because of the poor attendance. He hoped that the plans for a school resource officer would help with that problem.
He called the Wednesday night vote “a call to arms” on how they get truant students back in school.
Christian McMilin, the student board member, supported separating the graduations. She said she's not seen any of Clover Valley High's students or their parents come forward to say they want the dual ceremony. Had she, McMilin said it might have changed her mind.
She added that she's friends with a student at Clover Valley High who doesn't care about the issue.
“How do we make them care?” Austin asked.
Pedroncelli said they could agree that was a key question.
“Motivation is needed on this campus as well,” she added.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.