D60 senior students rally in response to canceled graduation ceremony

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Dozens of painted cars filled with senior high school students completely surrounded the District 60 administration building Wednesday in response to their graduation ceremony being canceled.

The superintendent of D60 announced they would instead be holding a virtual graduation ceremony at each of the district's four high schools.

Louis Martinez III says it's something students don't want to have.

“We don’t want to see our faces on a screen. We actually want to walk across and receive our diplomas," said Martinez.

It's been an incredibly difficult time for these students who say they feel like their senior year and all the work they have done was taken away from them.

“I’ve been working for this for 13 years and to just have it ripped out of my hands without any control, it just really breaks my heart,” said South High School senior Jordan Valdez.

Cole Johnson, a senior at Central High School, says the emotional toll the closings have had on his fellow classmates has been painful to see.

“It’s very alarming to see a lot of the strongest people that I’ve really had the pleasure of knowing in my life be brought to their knees over this," said Johnson.

But the reason for the rally was not just because their graduation ceremony was canceled, it was because they say the school district isn't going to hold an in-person ceremony at all when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

South High School senior Ryan Belmont says students understand why it was canceled and are okay with that, but she wishes their opinions on what should happen were recognized.

“We felt like our voices weren’t heard and they weren’t taken into consideration,” Belmont said.

That's why these students and their parents gathered to rally outside the administration building to have their voices heard. They wore face masks and maintained social distancing standards as they gathered in a parking lot less than ten minutes away from the administration building before caravanning over.

KRDO has reached out to D60 and was told it's still moving forward with a virtual graduation at this time and provided us this link to the statement Superintendent Charlotte Macaluso sent out to students and their families.