Dear SLUSD Community,

I want to provide an update on the district's investigation into highly concerning issues related to the graduation procedures for San Leandro High School and how this deeply impacted a group of special education students. I also want to acknowledge the delay in providing this information to the public. In gathering all of the related facts, our primary goal has been to, first and foremost, ensure that these types of critical errors do not occur in the future. In doing so, we have completed a thorough investigation of what happened and drafted our next steps to prevent serious mistakes of this nature in the future.

There were two separate issues concerning this group of six Special Education students. First, the printed program that was distributed at the graduation ceremony did not include their names. Second, their certificates of completion were not available for pickup on the day after graduation with the other graduates' diplomas. I will explain each of these errors separately.

OMISSION FROM THE PRINTED PROGRAM

SLHS clerical staff gathered all graduate names for the program from the student information system Aeries. In doing so, SLHS staff put students receiving a diploma on one tab of the spreadsheet and students receiving a certificate of completion on a different tab in the same worksheet to facilitate the separate ordering process for these two different types of documents. For clarity, students in our Special Day Class program within the Special Education Department do not receive high school diplomas but rather certificates of completion due to the different state requirements necessary for high school graduation. Clerical staff then copied and pasted those names into a separate document to provide to the program designer and neglected to include the names on the separate tab designated for certificates of completion.

In our investigation, the district determined there was no review process of the names to verify accuracy before printing. Next year, and moving forward, the district will review the draft program to cross-check for accuracy before printing.

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION NOT BEING READY FOR PICKUP

All SLHS diplomas and certificates of completion were ordered in March, and all arrived in April. In June, clerical staff prepared the documents for distribution which requires placing each diploma or certificate in individual distribution cases. During this process, the certificates of completion were put aside to be processed separately and were subsequently misplaced, which became apparent on June 6. Once clerical staff could not locate the certificates, they immediately reordered but did not notify the administration or the affected families of the delay.

In our investigation, the district determined the clerical staff acted in good faith with their immediacy in reordering, which allowed for the rapid delivery of new certificates that arrived last Friday. However, the lack of communication regarding this delay caused undue concern to the affected families, which is not in keeping with our standards of family support. Next year, and moving forward, school administrators have directed their staff to notify them of these types of errors to ensure timely communication with our families.

Although I have reached out to each of the affected families personally, I also want to extend a heartfelt public apology for the trauma these errors have caused at such a momentous and celebratory moment in these scholars' lives. I want our community to know that, as the district superintendent, I take full responsibility for the terrible experience this has caused for them and their children. Although these students walked the stage and were fully included in the graduation ceremony, I acknowledge these errors have caused unnecessary and unquestionable harm. Knowing the profound struggles our Special Education families face in navigating through systems that are not designed to account for differences, San Leandro Unified must continually do better to be authentic family partners in making their school experience inclusive and supportive.

With this in mind, I am personally working with each of these families to determine what we as a district can do to repair the harm that has been caused. The considerable challenges these scholars have faced and overcome throughout their educational journey demonstrate the strength of their indomitable spirits and deserve nothing less than our complete attention in celebrating their achievements. I will share more of our plans in the near future, but until then, please join me in congratulating these six graduates and their beautiful families.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael McLaughlin
SLUSD Superintendent