When the first public comment period opened for agenda items, it was asked by a resident in the audience if graduation could be discussed. It was permitted for graduation to be discussed, as it technically was an agenda item despite not being on the actual agenda document.

The first resident brought up that the Manville community is made up of a majority of hourly employees.

"While you guys were in closed meeting, I surveyed some of the folks in the room, to see how many of the folks in the room knew of people that had plans that couldn't be changed, and the answer was zero. And then I asked how many of you knew of parents that cannot attend their child’s gradation, and the answer was many,"

"I need to remind you, you the Board, are elected by us. You serve this community. Dr. Maroun is hired by you, he serves you. You need to remember your priorities are to this community,"

"I understand that you want teachers there. I'm an educator, I get it. You cannot require them to come if it's not during contractual hours. However, I know our faculty is a dedicated staff, and if they don't have a duty to be there, I know many of them will choose to be. And those who can't, it’s OK, we understand."

"To them, graduation comes around every year. To me, he graduates once in a lifetime. And if my husband can't be there, that’s not OK. Absolutely not OK. Fortunately, we're in a situation where he can afford to lose a couple hundred dollars to be at his son's graduation. There are many in this community who cannot afford that."

"May 9th, a letter was sent out. An email, that weekly update, and there was a letter about graduation. The letter wasn't in the email, you had to click a link to access that letter. In that letter, it said that if attendance is a burden for your family, reach out to Mr. Wright. I reached out to Mr. Wright, and you know what he said to me? Sorry, decision's been made. Then why did you ask for my feedback?"

"You as Board Members serve this community. You don't serve this administration, they serve you. So I want to know when this Board is gonna stand up for the best thing for this community, because tonight I've only seen two that did it."

No response was given by the Board to this resident.

A student spoke next:

"I would hope that you guys were aware that in 2019, graduation was moved up and there was pushback, right? Is it rightfully so that I assume you guys were aware of that?"

"An example, the referendum, I'm not saying that the referendum was bad, I love it, it's a good change for the schools, but that thing was seen everywhere. That thing was seen in every hallway, on every social media account, it was seen everywhere, there was no possible way you could've missed it. This should've been advertised more, it kind of, to me, seems to me it was kinda was swept under the rug."

"August 29th is the date you guys keep referencing, the date the email was sent out. I've asked many of my classmates, and some of them did receive the letter, they did see it, their parents did see it, but many of them did not. There was nothing this whole entire school year until we brought it up in April that was talking about graduation time. Me personally, I wasn't checking my email in August,"

"I don't know if it's the only defense, but it's the most prevalent defense that I've heard is that you guys communicated with us way back in August. One time. I don't think that's fair to me, I don't think that's fair to my fellow classmates. I don't think it's fair to the parents that have to lose hundreds of dollars, maybe not put food on the table for a couple days just to attend their children's graduation."

No response was given by the Board to the student. Another student spoke next.

"Like my fellow classmates were saying, we were only made aware about this in April, and presumably some of our grade knew about our graduation, once, back in August,"

"When we found out in April that graduation time was 1:45, it was speculative. And then we had to find out from confirmation later on in the month. But as early as April 2nd, when the word had spread, the community learned of a petition that (a student's name) sent out. About 200 people have signed it."

"And for every complaint, for every concern, we've sent out as a community, as individuals, it feels like everything we've said falls on deaf ears."

The student continued discussing the "technical" things for graduation, like why they might've changed the time, teachers being required to attend, the way the audience would be seated where the parents would be sitting on the sidelines. The student stated she thinks the whole thing devalues the importance of graduation day.

The Board President wanted clarification: "I don't understand something you said, what devalues the experience of your graduation day?"

"Having staff sit in front of us, having lesser parents and families show up to graduation because they cannot make it at 1:45."

"Oh, oh, so all of it, I'm sorry, I thought that there was like one thing that you said that was upsetting you," Board President Breen responded.

Another student spoke regarding how important it would be for his mother to attend his graduation. His mother is a nurse and works various hours, and he wants her to be there to see how he has made progress. The student even brought up why can't they come to a compromise on the time situation. Instead of 1:45 or 6pm, meet in the middle and have graduation at 3:30 or 4pm instead. He also referenced another school that had a similar situation arise, and they were able to change the time, despite it being close in time to graduation day.

The student who created the petition to change the time back to 6pm spoke next. He cited it has over 218+ signatures, along with comments, that the graduation time should change.

"There's only 2 people here, that genuinely know that Manville is a working town and that it's tough,"

"You guys really don't see what Manville is truly about, and the culture that we have in this town. This school is all about culture, I just see that nothing is going to change, there's nothing really being said about it. There's no letter during the year saying hey graduation's at this time, only in August, only time that it was sent. My parents didn't check out their emails, they're all working. You guys really expect us to be watching our emails at that time?"

"My mom unfortunately won't be able to make it. My aunt will make it. And those two people right there are role models in my life. I've only grown up with them. Never had a father. He passed away when I was young. This is special to them,"

"It's all special to us. And for us to get denied, or for us to not get heard or anything, and to say it's really not enough time, we really don't have long, but we see there's a lot of students. We had a big class meeting early on in the year about it with Mr. Wright, all of our students raised their hands when Mr. Wright asked whose family would be affected. And the majority of the class raised their hand. There's over 100 students in the class, and they all raised their hands. You don't think that says something?"

Board President Breen began to dispute the petition, since the Board didn't receive a copy of it.

"When you create a petition, you usually will deliver the petition to someone. Before I was on the Board, I created a petition because the Board wanted to start school before Memorial Day, or Labor Day. Labor Day. And I didn't want to start school before Labor Day, so I spoke up on behalf of the community, I started a petition, got over 500 signatures and I brought it to a Board Meeting, and I presented it to the Board, like printed it out. Did you present that to the Board, or to your principal?"

"I presented that to my principial, Mr. Maroun definitely seen it."

"Was it presented?" Board President Breen asked Dr. Maroun.

"No," he replied.

"It needs to be presented to be legitimate." Continued Ms. Breen.

"Mr. Wright has definitely seen that petition," stated the student.

"I am aware of your petition, but have not received a copy of your petition, so I don't know who the signatories are on your petition. I'm aware that it's out there, we spoke about this." Responded Dr. Maroun.

"Petitions are a great way to speak on behalf of your community, I did the same thing. I just want to let you know you need to cross over the finish line." Stated Ms. Breen.

The Board agenda continued after the initial agenda items public comment period, and when the second public comment period opened for any topic, some students returned back to speak a second time, of which one student caused an emotional response by Board President Breen.

The student said: "My biggest wish was just to graduate high school. Football, obviously, allowed me to being here in Manville to go to college for it. But graduating high school was my biggest goal in itself,"

"Knowing that I lost friends and close people that unfortunately their mothers and their parents aren't allowed to see them walk across the stage,"

"Because it's a celebration to show that I've came a long way."

"This is not going to be your last stage," responded Ms. Breen.

"I know that now, so that's why I fight for it, this is my community. I got the best of friends that I could ever ask for." The student replied.

Board President Breen became emotional after this student spoke. "It's lonely at the top, people." she said while crying.

No further comments were made. The meeting postponed a training item on the agenda, and the meeting adjourned.