Student can't graduate over alleged teacher mistake

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Westside teenager has come forward after she was kept from graduating Tuesday and said that her plans for college and the scholarship she was going to get have now gone right out the window.

A'nosha Watts said she wasn't allowed to walk in the Ed White High School graduation ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Arena because her teacher lost her homework and consequently she failed a course that would have given her the half credit she needed to graduate.

Watts' mom called district administrators and spoke with the principal at Ed White, and they told her the only option now to fix this mistake is to go to summer school.

"I went to pick up my cap and gown, I went Friday, and (they) told me I needed to go talk to my teacher," Watts said.

Watts said she was temporarily out of school and was allowed to make up assignments, which she said she did and turned in. But now she said the macro-economics instructor can't find her assignment. As a result, Watts, who said she's an honors student who wants to be a doctor, can't graduate, or get her scholarship for college in North Carolina that she planned to attend in the fall.

"It really messes (my plans) up big time because like my momma said, I did have a scholarship and everything. So now that I don't have a diploma, because I'm missing half a credit, I can't go anywhere right now," Watts said.

Watts' mom, Tarsha Hagan, has been calling every person she can think of at the school district to fix this with little success. She said so far, the district has only offered her the chance at summer school to fix this half credit, but Hagan said things should never have gotten this far.

"I asked the counselor why I was not notified of this? No one called me, no one gave me anything or said anything to me, and I was not even notified of this. So what's going on?" Hagan said.

Representatives with the school district said they can't comment on the situation because of federal student privacy laws.
 


About the Author:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.