Too far? Arresting a mom for bad behavior at high school graduation
UPDATE: Closed comments on this post after 300 remarks. (And about 200 more that I either blocked or took down.)
I have been surprised at the amount of manic cheering at the high school graduations that I’ve attended. In some cases, exuberant family members scream so loudly for their graduates that they drown at the names of the next students.
But this seems to go a bit far: Arresting a South Carolina mom for yelling too loudly at her daughter’s ceremony?
When I read these stories, I wonder if high school graduations are following the path of children’s sporting events where vociferous parents have been told to tone it down or leave the field.
But I understand the frustration of parents when their child’s name is lost to the applause and cheers for the prior graduate. I attended one ceremony where the procession of graduates had to be halted until the cheering relatives calmed down.
According to the New York Daily News:
Beach balls and bullhorns are commonly banned from graduation ceremonies, but some schools also want to silence the screaming — going so far as to have overzealous audience members arrested.
That’s what reportedly happened to South Carolina mom Shannon Cooper, who was accused of whooping so loudly during her daughter’s high school graduation Saturday night that cops charged her with disorderly conduct and placed her in a detention center.
“Are ya’ll serious? Are ya’ll for real? I mean, that’s what I’m thinking in my mind,” Cooper told WPDE NewsChannel 15 in Myrtle Beach. “I didn’t say anything. I was just like OK, I can’t fight the law. “
Cooper said she didn’t act any differently than other families when their children’s names were called during the South Florence High School ceremony. Her daughter, Iesha, told WPDE she didn’t realize her mother was being arrested until her friends told her.
“They’re locking your momma up for cheering — and I was like that isn’t right because other people was cheering and they didn’t lock them up,” Iesha told the TV station.
Police reportedly warned parents that screaming would result in expulsion from the Florence Civic Center. Those who became disorderly as they were shown the exit were also arrested, officials said. That allegedly included Cooper, who was placed in a police van and then taken to a detention center. She was there for several hours before posting a $225 bond, according to WPDE.
“Yesterday can’t be replaced… My mama went to jail on my graduation day,” Iesha Cooper, 18, told the station.
It wasn’t jail but community service that student Anthony Cornist was reportedly handed after his graduation from Mt. Healthy Junior/Senior High School in Ohio. His family and supporters gave him such a rowdy reception that school officials denied him his diploma and told him he will have to perform 20 hours of community service before he can graduate, according to ABC 9 in Cincinnati.
“I will be holding your diploma in the main office due to the excessive cheering your guests displayed during the roll call,” principal Marlon Styles Jr. wrote to Cornist in a letter obtained by ABC 9. While the school didn’t respond to requests for comment, the senior said Monday he personally “did nothing wrong.”
The school is allowing Cornist to split the community service with his family, but his mother told ABC 9 the punishment is “ludicrous” and none of them would be doing it.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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297 comments Add your comment
jlmdra
June 5th, 2012
8:37 pm
All of the hoopla at the ceremony is difficult to understand because most kids who graduate from high school in South Carolina are illiterate.
Maureen Downey
June 5th, 2012
8:38 pm
@Brain, Yes, the “you are a wimp” comment. But you did have the “sir” preceding it.
Maureen
Brainiac
June 5th, 2012
8:42 pm
@ Beast Fom The East:
Great post Bro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Real World
June 5th, 2012
8:44 pm
It’s high school! If you show up half the time and you don’t kill anyone, they’ll give you a diploma.
Maureen Downey
June 5th, 2012
8:44 pm
@jlmdra, I read your comment aloud to my niece from South Carolina who is a Smith student interning in Atlanta this summer. She had an instant and ferocious response to your comment, but it would not pass the filter.
Maureen
Hetch Hetchy
June 5th, 2012
8:53 pm
I generally hate the press. They always get it wrong, then put it in print. Almost 100% of the time.
For a parent to be arrested at a graduation, there must have been an incredible disruption bordering on violence. Most cops would rather not have to arrest someone, thereby avoiding paperwork and liability.
teacher
June 5th, 2012
8:54 pm
Graduations have gotten progressively worse and it is not the kids because they are still under the jurisdiction of the schools and not their families……
If you want to know why it is hard to control kids in schools, check out a public school graduation.
There is no decorum. There is no knowledge that the parents et al are supposed to act civilized and dignified.
I am appalled and embarassed, but must attend as part of my teaching job.
I am happy for the kids, but mortified at how the crowd acts.
Maureen Downey
June 5th, 2012
8:57 pm
@Hetch, As someone who covered local police in two states, I can assure that some cops do not mind arresting people. Within departments, there are officers who have shorter fuses and will arrest folks who are “disrespectful.”
See this Atlanta story on cop who arrested woman for asking “why.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/woman-61-arrested-for-309285.html
Four women, two of them well into middle age, were discussing funeral plans for a friend when an Atlanta police officer told them to move. Three did but one asked “why.” In answer to her question, Minnie Carey, then 61, was handcuffed, put into a police wagon and taken to jail, where she was held for nine hours.
The Citizen Review Board found that Atlanta Police officer Brandy Dolson had violated APD policies and had falsely arrested Carey. “I was blown away,” Carey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I had heard about people in the community being harassed by the police … It really didn’t shock me as much as it probably would have if I had not heard of people going to jail for no reason. I figured I was just another one. But I had the right to ask ‘why’ I had to move,” she said.
disappointed
June 5th, 2012
9:00 pm
Understand that the parent should of been made an example of, but why hold a student diploma? We don’t hold the parent responsible for the students behavior so why would we hold the student responsible for his ignorant parent?
Brainiac
June 5th, 2012
9:02 pm
@ Acqua Girl:
You hit the nail on the head!!
Great post!!!!!!!!!!!
wordgirl
June 5th, 2012
9:04 pm
Instead of verbally cheering, why not replace it with waving both hands and wiggling all ten fingers? If that’s not enough, people can snap their fingers or do a snake-dance with their arms or whatever–something that doesn’t deafen those seated nearby or ‘erase’ the next graduate…
Enlightened
June 5th, 2012
9:13 pm
And in Gwinnett at Peachtree Ridge HS…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-CDrhD1238&feature=related Apparently, the crowd felt the actions were heavy-handed. Listen to the boos! Over-criminalization is just that! Georgia is number ONE in the country for the number of citizens under some type of court monitoring and FOURTH in the nation for per capita incarceration. Georgia’s graduation rate is 65.4% and Gwinnett is 65.5% and South Carolina is 66%. For the students who manage to make it out, there is reason to celebrate!
Brian
June 5th, 2012
9:20 pm
Your “mama” is completely disrespectful to your graduating peers who are following you….and guess what, their parents love their children as much as yours love you, and I’m guessing they would like to hear their child’s name announced over the PA as well. I see this kind of stuff at my kid’s school as well, but clearly not to this extent. Grates my last nerve. Trashy.
No to PC
June 5th, 2012
9:23 pm
We’re finished with HS graduations in this family, thankfully. I was so glad both of my children graduated with honors because the worst offenders, it seemed, were from the parents of other graduates. I felt awful for the students whose parents could not hear their children’s named called thanks to the loud cheering and foghorns used by the parents of those whose names were called earlier. I see no problem with asking those people to leave a ceremony, unfortunately it’s already too late for the people their actions hurt. It sounds like there is more to this story than the blog indicates and I believe all the facts should be included before asking people to sound off.
Hetch Hetchy
June 5th, 2012
9:23 pm
Downey, i’ve actually done the job. If you’re going by the Atlanta The Citizen Review Board for reference for anything, well I can’t do anything for you. Take a walk sometime through the Rice Street Jail. Or better yet, work a shift or two there. See what reality is.
WTF
June 5th, 2012
9:41 pm
Gee wonder what the mom who do if her daughter actually accomplished something big? After graduating from high school is (should be) expected.
Contractor
June 5th, 2012
9:41 pm
When half of these parents cheer it’s because their kids are lucky to graduate, and just happy they are not dead or drop outs. There should be consequences, because it is not fair for the others that worked just as hard or harder to have their special day ruined because of the ignorant few. Raise hell after the ceremony or at an after party. Have some dignity and class during the ceremony if you understand what that means. Glad this lady was made an example.
WTF
June 5th, 2012
9:44 pm
Enlightened: That is the stupidest comment so far.
Manners Matter
June 5th, 2012
9:54 pm
At the beginning of the cermony it is announced to please not yell, scream, shake cowbells, use fog horns or other noise makers as it is a formal ‘cermony’. The yelling and cheering belong at your own personal party. I’m glad the noise makers are escorted out.
Clayton
June 5th, 2012
9:55 pm
The lower the social class of the people involved the wilder the graduation!!! Only low class people act this way.
April
June 5th, 2012
10:00 pm
A citation well worth the consequence. Cheer on, mama.
Hillbilly D
June 5th, 2012
10:03 pm
A few suggestions:
Somebody say, “Please hold all applause until all graduates have received their diplomas”.
Make a manners course mandatory for graduation (it’s to late for today’s parents but somewhere down the road it might pay off).
And my personal favorite, just mail everybody their diploma. Behavior problem solved and probably a lot cheaper to boot.
Chae
June 5th, 2012
10:27 pm
I don’t understand this “hold your diploma” punishment. It’s a high school diploma. You still graduate. I don’t even know where my high school diploma is. I last saw it maybe a day after my graduation
cobb
June 5th, 2012
10:29 pm
At my son’s graduation, Kell High School, held in a Church, a small minority of parents obnoxiously screamed and disrupted the ceremony. There were very clear announcements prior to the graduation and some in attendance chose to ignore the requests for restraining their behavior and ruined a big event for the graduates after their special child. And yes, almost none of them graduated with honors.
I only wished they were removed at this graduation.
puzzled
June 5th, 2012
10:50 pm
I blame reality TV.
atlfunlver
June 5th, 2012
11:03 pm
This is nuts…schools out!! yell for your kids if you want. If it makes them feel good it cant be wrong. Control freaks just cant let go for even a second.
billyBobjacket
June 5th, 2012
11:09 pm
The kids whose families make all the noise will end up working for those whose families are respectful. On the other hand, if a high school diploma is the greatest thing they ever aspire to accomplish in life…
BlondeHoney
June 5th, 2012
11:24 pm
@cobb, I attended the Kell graduation for the son of a very dear friend & totally agree with all your comments. My boys graduated back in 2003 & 2004 in south Florida and I don’t recall the same level of disrespect between their graduation and this Kell one; agree that they were in the minority but they were soooo freaking obnoxious
Sandy Springs Parent
June 5th, 2012
11:42 pm
The last week of school my younger daughter’s middle school choir sang at one of the major old line churches on Peachtree Street in Buckhead. There were 200 students in the 3 grades. As each grade practiced, I was given the assignment of keeping the kids quite, no ussage of cell phones, no drinking or eating. The Choir is pretty evenly divided with 1/3 white upper middle + students, 1/3 hispanic, 1/3 black students.
We tried to explain to the kids that they were sitting in the naive of a church, even if this wasn’t the religion they practiced, they needed to respect it for what it was. I went up to the Hispanic kids and said to them, I bet you are Catholic. They looked at me like how do you know that, i said i am Catholic too, and you certainly know that you do not act like you are acting like you are now in Church. The Priest would just stop and yell at you, right. Or your parents would first. Then with the rest of the white kids, I was saying at your Temple or your Church ( as their are basically 4 churches in the area that most go to). Then one kid goes ” I go to the “Buckhead Church” and you can run around and jump up and down and sing. Well I said, this is not one of those type of Church’s this is the type of church that every body sits in there seats. They don’t even have kneelers to sit, down, stand, up and kneel, in here. I concluded by that point that simple 90% of the kids no matter their social economic class really understand what it is to just sit still and behave.
Hillbilly D
June 5th, 2012
11:43 pm
If it makes them feel good it cant be wrong.
Healthy self-esteem doesn’t seem to be in short supply in today’s world. What the world needs is a little more humility.
another comment
June 5th, 2012
11:50 pm
My daughter graduates next year. As she told me we can make alot of money selling the 5 extra tickets we will get for the graduation ceramony, from the people that need to take their Godmother, like a sister sister, and all sorts of other family members to yell and scream at the graduation.
My daughter spent the evening puting together a top list of schools to apply to for college. Then I helped her edit off some schools, as I would not let her keep any school on the list that did not have a greater than 65% in 6 year graduation rate. Only two of Georgia’s Public Universities and College’s make this criteria, can you guess which ones. She has to go at least 6 1/2 years to get any of the Professional Degree’s she wants to attain. So she has to get the BA or BS in 4 years or less.
The Ghost of Edward R. Murrow
June 6th, 2012
12:05 am
No surprise here.
I’ve noticed – gradually – the rude and loud and “all about me” behavior exhibited in restaurants, stores, malls, parks, concerts, and – God knows – amusement parks….so why should we be surprised when the uncivil behavior exhibited at all other places is also exhibited at graduations?
Here’s my prediction – in the not-too-distant-future – there will be graduation ceremonies for folks who want to act civil and respectful, and separate graduation ceremonies for folks who want to act like animals.
BehindEnemyLines
June 6th, 2012
1:16 am
I’m probably just about the far right of conservative reaction on at least 3/4ths of the stuff posted here … but this one rather boggles.
On the one hand I’ve seen more than a few over-the-top outbursts at HS graduations in the past couple of decades (especially the last 10 yrs or so). On the other hand I’m not sure I’m as embarrassed for those folks as I am for those here who insist that HS graduations are/should be some sort of solemn affair.
For those people I’d suggest that they buy a vowel, ask the audience, phone a friend or otherwise do something to get a clue. Those directly involved in the proceedings just want to get them over with so they can get on with whatever activity comes next. The vast majority of those in the audience also just want them to be over as well, considerable tedium endured for a few moments that are of actual interest. The pretense that it’s actually something else is a pretty sad state of denial.
Is there a certain amount of decorum that’s reasonable? Sure. But at the same time, it’s not as though someone broke out a DJ booth, a disco ball and a string of M-80’s during a funeral either.
End It
June 6th, 2012
2:07 am
I went to a graduation ceremony at Tara Stadium several years ago. It was the first graduation I attended since my own in 1969. I was shocked! Not only were people dressed like they were going to a picnic but they acted like savages. Obviously some people have no class or respect for the occasion. In my opinion, since this type of behavior will not stop, graduation ceremonies should be ended and diplomas mailed to the students. Too bad that low-lifes have ruined another tradition.
FullStay
June 6th, 2012
3:37 am
the loud, obnoxious behavior at these ceremonies is a sign of the times–people could not care less about anyone around them and whether they can hear their child’s name when announced. It’s just like the losers in movie theaters texting on their celphones and talking during the movie–like they can’t wait until the movie is over, even though it bothers everyone else. Very embarrassing to see this lowlife in public.
police state
June 6th, 2012
5:19 am
What happened to the ACLU?
police state
June 6th, 2012
5:22 am
And for the next act of “Taking your rights away” the police state will state arresting people for yelling “AMAN” in church.
And your are shocked?
June 6th, 2012
5:30 am
Okay, let’s be honest! As an educator these are the same parents who fight like hell for their children to participate in a graduation when they have not passed the graduation test. These are the same parents who sell the food stamps that I pay for that they get for free.
I suggest we go back to limiting the number of tickets we make available, giving each family four tickets will surely, put a limit to all of that mess.
Jack
June 6th, 2012
5:51 am
Friends and relatives of graduates can cheer after the ceremony. As mentioned above, this rowdy behavior by parents is passed on to the next generation.
Doggy jones
June 6th, 2012
6:16 am
Doesn’t surprise me one bit. If parents don’t know correct behavior in public, why would the child. My son recently graduated 5th grade – 5th GRADE! The way some parents were hooping and hollering you would have thought they had just received a Ph D and won the lottery too. I was unfortunate to be sitting next to a loud group. Even after being told before and during the ceremony to silence cell phones and remove crying children, this group (pack) ignored all of the above. Even when honors were being read for past students who had tragically lost their lives, this mob continued to act as though they were at the park. Some parents got up and left…….SAD!
Johnjon
June 6th, 2012
6:30 am
“and I was l like that isn’t right because other people was cheering and they didn’t lock them up”. This child needs to return her diploma.
Mig
June 6th, 2012
6:44 am
Selected quotes from the article:
“Are ya’ll serious? Are ya’ll for real? I mean, that’s what I’m thinking in my mind,”
“They’re locking your momma up for cheering — and I was like that isn’t right because other people was cheering and they didn’t lock them up,”
My mama went to jail on my graduation day,” Iesha Cooper, 18, told the station.
Consider the source. I’m just sayin…..
a k
June 6th, 2012
6:46 am
It’s hightime to stop this kind of waste of money by highschool authority. Just mail the certificates at home or let students collect from highschool . In asian country they do that. Passing std 12th is not a big achienvement.! If you pass college then it matters.
Edward Ruffin
June 6th, 2012
6:48 am
I agree with Another Math Teacher. It is a ceremony, not New Years Eve. I think the mom should have been arrested. These people who distract from the ceremony are disrespectful and obnoxious.
Sun Runner
June 6th, 2012
7:04 am
I just attended a HS graduation a couple of weeks ago. Like this, it was a large class of 400 kids with the ceremony being held in a large church. Again, everyone was asked to be respectful and hold their applause until the end. The vast majority of people were polite with controlled cheers but one idiot brought an air horn in and drove me nuts! He should have been asked to leave AND then arrested if he didn’t. Even in the parking lot latter, he couldn’t resist blowing the damn thing until everyone was sick of it. There were several instances where parents that had to be told they couldn’t block others views so that they could take pictures while their child was on stage. The church offered video tapes of the entire ceremony for anyone that wanted it for a very nominal amount. Why does everyone think the rules (of etiquette, as well as of society) do not apply to them?
Old timer
June 6th, 2012
7:11 am
Imagine….stopping for several minutes for all 400 graduates. I went to a college graduation where someone talked loudly on her cello the WHOLE ceremony from flag to final words. It was soooo rude.
Blue Fender
June 6th, 2012
7:15 am
My daughter recently graduated high school and I was completely embarassed by the “ceremony”. After the principal stated clearly for everyone to be respectful and not be disruptive until the last student of each row was announced, the rednecks still emerged prematurely. It was almost like being at a WWE event with all the woooo’s. It showed me that it doesn’t matter what color you are, there are ahole rednecks everywhere.
southside teacher
June 6th, 2012
7:31 am
Actually, she was asked to leave because of her noise. She was arrested when whe got rowdy with officials. Apparently she forgot that her daughter was not the only one being recognized that day. It’s a common problem. Not only do the kids think they are the center of the universe, but so do their parents.
mgdawg
June 6th, 2012
7:37 am
I’ve been at a lot of graduations and have seen the same thing, and it is very disrespectful. While arresting a person might be a little excessive, what else can you do? We’re not living in a world where a bad look at someone makes them get quiet.
Rodster
June 6th, 2012
7:40 am
I also disapprove of the loud cheering which is out of place at a graduation ceremony. But there must be a better way. I wonder if schools have tried preemptive notices to parents and students?