15 percent of Oxford seniors not graduating this weekend

OXFORD – Without a clear explanation from administrators, there will be a considerable absence from Oxford Academy’s Saturday afternoon commencement ceremony. Fifteen percent of the district’s seniors will not graduate with their classmates.
According to school administrators, 11 of the 75 students in the upper class will not receive their diplomas this weekend, and although details as to why they will not walk with other students were denied to The Evening Sun, the general explanation from district Superintendent Randall Squier is that students have not been turning in required work.
Squier said he could not provide a breakdown of what the 11 students had failed to complete because it may introduce privacy issues and identify who the students in question are. He only said that in some academic areas, stringent requirements were not met by the group.
“I don’t think it is anything more than it has been in the past,” Squier said. “We are monitoring it and if they don’t have what they need to graduate in June, we will make sure they have what they need over the summer.”
Upon questioning, the district head said the district’s English 12 class was a problem for some in the group, but he chalked-up the struggle to students’ own failure to complete assignments. “Teachers can’t grade work that is not turned in... If I can define English 12, it is effort,” he said.