Only 5 students met the requirements

(CNN) — At a small high school in rural Texas, the school district’s superintendent said at the end of a year-end review, only five of the school’s 33 seniors met graduation requirements.

“Marlin High School has announced that high school graduation will be moved to June,” the Marlin Independent School District said in a statement. A letter posted on Facebook. “The high school’s decision to defer graduation will give students more time to complete the necessary graduation requirements.”

Many students at the school, 28 miles southeast of Waco, “are not meeting requirements due to attendance or grades,” the letter said.

“The school district has reaffirmed its commitment to providing students with the resources and support they need,” the school district added in the announcement.

Superintendent Darryl Henson called a mandatory meeting for parents of seniors last week.

“The state of Texas has guidelines for graduation,” Henson said at Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s not a dance (…). It’s a degree.”

After students worked on class time and homework this week, Henson says 17 more teenagers qualified to graduate in June.

The community planned an informal graduation ceremony to celebrate the seniors at a church on Thursday, the CNN affiliate reported that the students were supposed to be the first to graduate that day. KWTX. Some family members flew in from Mexico for the canceled graduation and will not be able to make a second trip to the rescheduled ceremony in June, KWTX reported.

According to him report card In Texas Marlin High Schools, 98.7% of the school’s students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. A total of 229 students were enrolled in the school for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Marlin Independent School District serves 880 students in Marlin, Texas, on the Brazos River.