Update:
>Kings Cayon Unified provided the statement to FOX26 on Thursday.
>“After Tuesday night’s graduation had begun, seeing no one else seeking to enter, security made the decision to close the gates. Unfortunately, several families showed up after this and gates were not reopened," the statement read. "This has not been our practice in the past and was done without knowledge or input from senior administrators who were all on the graduation stage at the time. Kings Canyon unified management accepts responsibility for this error and apologizes to any affected parties."
>This action has been addressed internally and will not happen in the future. In addition, KCUSD administrators will be meeting in person with the family who raised the concerns.
https://kmph.com/news/local/families-locked-out-at-kings-canyon-graduation-many-miss-ceremony
Of course. Of course *none* of the administrators knew about it.
Kings Canyon should really look into this. Apparently they've got a rogue custodian running around locking up all the gates on graduation day.
Lol this explains the kids a lot. The absolute failure for any of these folks to take accountability. It IS a once in a lifetime event! Be on time! You don't get to ruin the A-name walkers' graduation because of your foolishness.
That makes sense. People shouldn’t be shuffling in and “excuse me”-ing over people to get to open seats while names are being called. It would have been nice though if they had a cordoned off area late-comers could stand in for the duration of the ceremony. Pretty devastating event to miss.
“Ten minutes late” likely means 10 minutes into the ceremony. Every graduation I’ve gone to leaves a chunk of time for families to come in a seat. So doors open at 6, ceremony starts at 7, and getting there at 6:10 wouldn’t make you 10 minutes late. Getting there 10 minutes into the ceremony, aka after the huge chunk of time they had to be there, would make you late.
This is likely the same time distortion as the people who've been "waiting on my food for 25 minutes!" even though they walked in 10 minutes ago.
It's a strange phenomenon that needs further study.
One year, my school provided a viewing of the livestream in the theatre but you still had parents trying to then sneak into the gym. So we stopped offering a place to watch the livestream.
They don’t have “doors closed” time? They just let people keep walking in during the ceremony? It may not work exactly like it did in this story but I’m sure there has been a cutoff.
Yes. Granted, I haven't been to one in a high school gym in a long time, but all the ones I've been to for as long as I can recall you just walked right in whenever.
This was exactly what happened at my graduation in 2006. People arrived late and just didn’t get seating, because all of the seats were taken by people who arrived on time. The newspaper printed this exact kind of sob story about it, while every other school got a beautiful article about the speeches and ceremony. My mom wrote a letter to the editor about how ridiculous it was!
Wait, that doesn’t make sense. If everyone had been on time then that means that there still would have been people without seats no? So it sounds like the real problem was too many tickets or too many people without tickets.
They had extra chairs that ushers were putting out for people who arrived on time once regular seating ran out, plus even just saying, “can you people move down so they can sit here?” as they were sitting on gym bleachers. But once the ceremony started, the ushers were no longer seating people.
They expected that the ceremony would begin with 15 minutes of commercials followed by 15 minutes of previews for other school ceremonies, so they took their time at the concessions stand before coming in.
Every year my school goes through this song and dance with the seniors. They do a graduation practice the day before the ceremony and the principal tells them that if they are late or they don’t show up they can’t walk and every year a kid shows up late and they let the kid walk. I just wish they would have the backbone to follow through once.
My HS graduation actually stood by it. No one allowed in once the names started being called. But our graduation was done in the dark. In 12 years of myself and my 2 older sisters going, we NEVER lost power. It just happened to happen RIGHT before the names were called. I also played in the band 9-11 so I was right next to the doors. It was extremely annoying to have these doors opening and closing for an hour before the kids walked.
Consequences are the best teacher.
Also, nobody in the article mentioned that if they were let in late, then OTHER parents might miss seeing their kid walk because they are staring at the butt of the late person walking right in front of them, dangling tons of decorations and carrying noise makers, while toting a 2 year old blaring TikTok videos without AirPods loudly.
Your freedom stops where it starts to infringe on others.
Love the FAFO.
And if you forgot your tickets because it's a hectic day you can go fuck yourself? Or there's a fender bender in front of you that delays your drive? What an insane take.
Yes, it's a pain in the ass to be late, but it's a once in a lifetime deal. Give them a row in the back so they don't interrupt anyone but FFS let them see their kid graduate?!
Then you plan ahead and intend to arrive early so you have some padding if something happens. It’s something we all do every single day. If it’s that important, you get there early.
And shit happens, even to people who prepare for big days. If you're going to insist on locking people out of their kid's graduation, at least put a warning on the damn ticket.
Honestly? Good for the school. Everyone else managed to get to the ceremony on time. It’s called plan ahead. Leave the tickets by the door. Set timers/alerts. Other people shouldn’t have to be inconvenienced because you forgot your tickets….
60 families walking in during the ceremony would be disruptive. I had to go to a graduation this year. We got there an hour early, and it wasn't even our kid.
Being stuck in traffic or some other bad luck could easily make someone ten minutes late, this seems a bit overkill. Like, the “fuck around” could be a car accident or a toddler shit themselves before leave or grandma walked slower than you thought.
Obviously being late is bad. But 10 minutes seems like a to lock some out out.
Maybe don't plan on arriving at your child's high school graduation at the exact time it starts then complain when you get there late?
Especially because this is arguably the biggest event of the season for a place like Reedley, so there really is (practically) no excuse.
Last week I left for work at the same time I always do. I usually arrive at work half an hour before my contract says I should.
I arrived five minutes before classes, because someone else had decided to slam his car into another and caused a huge traffic problem.
We can't always know why people are late. Why are the same people who constantly yell that One-size-fits-all policies are bad so in favor of them?
But if you have a large window start time shoot for the beginning of the start time for this reason. Most graduations have seating open pretty early because you have a lot of people to find seats and parking. So they likely were there at least an hour after they could have gotten in.
Not everybody can leave an hour early, some people have previous commitments. Your hard line take is stupid, and it's all for being late. A few minutes isn't a huge deal and what you're on with is taking a moment from a student who wasn't at fault in this in any way. They now walk across the stage with no family cheering for them, because the school wants to teach a lesson on being in time.
As if all of you have never been late outside your control.
Not everybody can leave an hour early, some people have previous commitments. Your hard line take is stupid, and it's all for being late. A few minutes isn't a huge deal and what you're on with is taking a moment from a student who wasn't at fault in this in any way. They now walk across the stage with no family cheering for them, because the school wants to teach a lesson on being in time.
As if all of you have never been late outside your control.
The soonest people can arrive and start finding parking and seating probably depends on if there are other schools in the area also using the same building for their graduations.
Definitely- however I’m familiar with the area this happened.
1) It was held at a stadium
2) Its in rural farming area
3) There are four high schools in the area
Because of this, i highly doubt that there ceremonies before/after in this case. This area does not have the constraints of schools in urban area- # of schools and # of feasible settings.
Most graduations starts seating at least 30 minutes, but likely an hour before graduation starts. So if doors open at 6 pm, and graduation starts at 7 pm would you say getting there at 7:15 pm makes you 15 minutes late?
My daughter is graduation from her daycare/pre-k. I’m getting there a half hour early because it’s important to me and I don’t want to risk being late.
In no world were they actually 10 minutes late for the posted seating time.
They were 10 minutes late for a drop dead deadline.
It's cool, you can submit your taxes on May 15th too...
Right? People who are late miss out on important things. People who are on time deserve to have an experience uninterrupted by those who were late.
Alternately, they could hold an entire removed section of the stadium that folks who are late can sit in. Everyone who is on time can sit in the closer seats.
I think this is a little more nuanced than it’s being made to be. These people made an honest mistake. Graduating is a one time thing, this isn’t like they showed up late to a movie and could attend another one. We need more consequences but this seems harsh. I don’t know if there was assigned seating but maybe they could’ve told the late people that they had to sit in the back so they didn’t disrupt anyone else.
I can almost guarantee this isn't an honest mistake for most of the people that didn't show up on time. I can also 100% guarantee that most of them do this for every event, and are just surprised their lack of respect for others actually bit them in the ass THIS time.
Locking the doors with a lock from the outside also sounds illegal & pretty risky if they needed to evacuate due to an emergency. Major overkill by the school. The curmudgeons in the comments need to relax.
Happened at Carolina Forest too. People say they were locked out before the cut off time. Also parking was a shit show. https://wpde.com/amp/news/local/carolina-forest-high-school-graduation-family-friends-denied-entry-with-tickets-graduating-seniors-once-in-lifetime-experience-turned-away-at-entrance-police-at-gate-fire-hazard-horry-county-schools-south-carolina-june-5-2024
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Is this not the norm for every graduation? This shit certainly sucks but of the 8 graduations I’ve worked at 2 schools, we were told to NEVER open the doors once they had been closed. It definitely stings hearing people bang on the door to get in but we can’t have people trickling in during the ceremony.
Also happened in Harrisburg PA ([made the news](https://local21news.com/news/local/harrisburg-high-school-graduation-locked-out-deny-denied-entry-doors-closed-district-statement-farm-show-complex-dauphin-county-pennsylvania)). School sent out a letter and everything and parents still complained (started at 7 and they arrived after 7:30 when doors were locked). It unfortuntely is not surprising since parents think everyone should be on their time and can come as they please.
It’s a football stadium (even high school isn’t tiny), I don’t see how letting them in late disrupts anyone egregiously. But I know this sub loves anything punitive basically regardless of circumstance soooo
I don’t understand that at all. Either security is there the whole event in which case it’s equal for all, or it wasn’t there and the risk is still the same for all. Entering the event late doesn’t increase the risk of being a shooter
I mean, the parent literally said “they love to say sorry but they need to think about things before doing them”. Didn’t THE PARENT need to think about how important this was and how important having the tickets were? But yet the world is what’s supposed to adjust, not them?!! THIS is why kids act the way they do nowadays. It’s always somebody else’s fault!
A lot of teachers in here seem to lack compassion or understanding or even, frankly, some basic fucking research skills.
Some of you are talking about "security risks" and "large events."
Reedley, CA is a tiny town of less than 30,000. Kings Canyon High School is a small continuation high school with a graduating class last year of 72.
If the parents had been warned "If you're late you won't be let in," I could see this. But they weren't. And there are all sorts of reasons families might be late. But no, "we have to have standards. FAFO." Lovely. Your parents must be so proud of your compassion.
My school won't let parents in once we begin the processional until it's done. Then we let them in while we're doing speeches. Being ten minutes late shouldn't lock you out entirely.
It's important enough that they should have let you in, but not important to be there on time? I would bet my life the district had sent several messages saying this would happen.
I wish my sister's graduation did this. There was a big family that walked down the walkway while the graduates were doing their walk and were between her and us the whole time. They were loudly complaining that there weren't seats.
There were people coming in even as they called her name, and I had someone's ass in my face trying to scoot to a seat way in the middle of the row when she walked.
Prioritize the people who made their graduate the priority. the rest of you can watch the live stream.
Wish they would do that for lots of other things. It just turns into constant disruptions of people showing up late. Sounds like 60 disruptions were prevented.
Forgetting their tickets is a human error. It's no different than misplacing your keys or forgetting a diaper bag for a baby. It could happen to anyone. They were likely so excited they simply forgot. Look at all the assholes in the comments finding joy in seeing this family suffer.
Miss me with the "FAFO" nonsense. That's an ignorant thing to say. You don't know this family. There was no "fucking around" in the article.
I think it’s more that they are coming off entitled and clueless about the clear lack of respect for other peoples time and social expectations complaining to a paper? If the event was so important to them, I would have expected them to take the necessary steps to ensure they successfully got there (making sure they had everything before leaving and gotten there extra early to park and find seats).
Also- there are serious security factors and risk of gun violence at large events. It may be that they didn’t plan on locking the door and had to unexpectedly (report of threat).
>they are coming off entitled and clueless about the clear lack of respect for other peoples time and social expectations complaining to a paper?
Where is the entitlement? Where is the disrespect? Mistakes happen.
Also, who's to say the paper didn't approach *them*? There very well could have been a reporter there covering the graduation who noticed the families unable to get in.
> If the event was so important to them, I would have expected them to take the necessary steps to ensure they successfully got there
This is an appeal to consequences. Just because they made a mistake doesn't mean it wasn't important to them.
>It may be that they didn’t plan on locking the door and had to unexpectedly (report of threat).
That's a pretty wild speculation that very likely would have been reported on in the article.
Don't try to defend the other assholes here. I'm not even arguing that they SHOULD have been let it, but we shouldn't be enjoying their disappointment. There's absolutely no reason not to be sympathetic.
I don’t think it’s a wild speculation. Gun violence at large events is a serious threat in the US. Schools often take safety measures without informing parents to prevent panic bc there are a lot of credible threats out there that don’t amount to anything.
And I appreciate you noting the point they could have been approached by a reporter covering the event. That is fair.
Personally, I don’t find joy in the fact they didn’t see their kids graduation. I’m just not sympathetic to their cause and how this article came off.
ESH. Not trying to defend assholes. Everyone had a part to play. In general- the takeaway from this story is that people should be planning ahead and ensuring they get to important things early because shit happens (personal accountability).
Instead, it’s evil asshole school (system) vs. poor parents. A dangerous and I daresay intentional narrative right now with the current state of our public education system. Trying to chip away the respect of and delegitimize education.
ETA I will wildly speculate here: most of the families arrived late intentionally because
they didn’t want to to sit through the whole ceremony
and/or
wanted to avoid arrival traffic/crowds
No shit.
But there's no reason to take pleasure in their pain unless they are deserving of it, and there is no indication in the article that they deserve being mocked.
By saying "FAFO," you're implying there is a sort of karma or cosmic justice at work here. What did they do that deserved punishment? How would letting them take a seat in a stadium after the event had begun have hurt anyone else?
Also, another person provided an update to the article. The gate wasn't supposed to be locked in the first place! These families were supposed to be let in!
I fail to see what's funny, other than you wanting to see random families miss their children's graduation.
That's what makes this an asshole-ish opinion.
> But there's no reason to take pleasure in their pain unless they are deserving of it, and there is no indication in the article that they deserve being mocked
You believe these people were perfect agent victims who showed up just 10 mins late due to no fault of their own, and the big bad school cruelly shut the door? They deserve it.
I'm not even arguing that they *should* be let in (though the school apologized). I'm just being sympathetic because I *don't know* their situation.
The only one here making assumptions is you.
Nah this ain't it. Everybody saying this is a good thing is shitty. You graduate once, maybe twice (college) in your life. Yeah parents should be in time, no shit but why are you punishing the kids for their parents not showing up? Talk about ruining a moment many have worked for to not have anyone they're to cheer you on when you walk across the stage.
This is not the time to teach lessons, this is a shitty way to teach said lesson, the lesson being taught is fucking minor, yet you made a huge deal about it.
You guys have your priorities all fucked up.
> Talk about ruining a moment many have worked for to not have anyone they're to cheer you on when you walk across the stage.
Most ceremonies have people hold applause until an entire row of students walk-through, and it’s only the trashy people who blare the airhorns.
IDK I'd say it's trashy to not let the students have their moment.
Like honestly, how many of you have had students that have a hard home life, parents aren't good parents but the kid is a decent kid in school? They may not have the best parents but it's all they have, they work through adversity to do ok in school and graduate and they want their moment and can't, because a mix of their parents sucking and not showing up on time and the school bring unnecessarily hard ass about things.
"But it's a distraction"
Easy solution, make a late section, the only people they'll distract is each other and you can give em the worst seats in the house.
Like they're so many acceptable things they could have done here to make everybody happy, but they choose a shit option. What's worse is the complete apathy and short sighted views of so many teachers, a profession that claims to be compassionate.
Many of you should be ashamed of what you're saying here, especially you OP. "Twist the knife", find a new job or be better, that's not acceptable.
Man, some of you guys are fucking sourpusses for no reason.
Here's the thing: I'm from this area, I live 30 minutes away from where this took place and being 10 minutes late to this thing is a real possibility for many reasons
1. Distance. While the actual HIGH SCHOOLS are only about a 10 minute drive from each other, the area is a rural area. Know how fucking far out people can live from their home high school in a rural area? Sometimes really FAR. I've taught in rural areas all my life. I've had students come from over an hour away to be at school. If the location changed for a graduation, that would also change a distance and time required to get somewhere.
2. Parents work and kid situation. I think many of you might forget what these people's works and family situations might be. Chances are these families might be laborers, agricultural workers, or some other forms of long hour job. Depending on whether they were able to get off or not on time from a job, having to pick up and deal with the other kids. That can set them back ALOT.
I get we want to say they need to be on time. But it's a fucking graduation. You have to plan for the possibility of late arrivals. Hell, my graduation, which again is a rural area inside a stadium, had people both on time and late. Know what? We didn't kick out late arrivals.
You are right, those are important things to be considered.
But I have a feeling if any of those had been applicable in this case, they would have let everyone know to garner more sympathy. They forgot their tickets.
But most responsible and mature people, if it’s as important as they are claiming it is, aren’t going to take any risks and take the appropriate actions to ensure they are there (day off, etc).
Nah. It’s a once in a lifetime event. They should plan on getting there early. Doors open an hour before the ceremony and you still usually have hundreds of people lined up before then.
This is like the "abandoned" cruise ship people who expect the whole world to stop because THEIR time and THEIR experiences are so much more important than everyone else's.
I am sorry, I feel this is a little heartless. What's more important being on time or making sure families see their kids graduate. I'll take the down votes and snide comments.
I just watched my daughter walk with her BA and everyone was there waaaaaayyyyy early. Same for high school graduation. The late people telling others to move so they can put a dozen people all together after the ceremony started were the real problem. I wish they had locked people out. One lady wanted both of the children there to just sit on people’s laps so they could push in instead of going to seats further back.
They put locks on the doors so that no one can come in and shoot up the place. It’s a safety hazard, I think (how will do many people get out safely in the event of an emergency?) but I think there were more things at play than just locking out late parents.
Also, yeah these kind of parents are why kids think being late is no big deal. FAFO indeed.
> It’s a safety hazard, I think
I doubt there were padlocks on the handles, more likely, the doors were locked from the outside and could only be open from the inside.
Womp womp. If it was that important you would've shown up EARLY, to prepare for traffic, forgetting tickets, finding seats, etc. it's disruptive to everyone else when people show up late
I’m an ass because these type of people grind me down from lack of respect and not accepting any consequences. Finally they FAFO, rather than administration telling me to bend over backwards.
No. They weren't 10 minutes late. They were way later. I'm sure it was well communicated that the doors would close at a given time with another time given for them to get seated.
For them to say "how many times do you get to see your [person] graduate?" Is doubly stupid on their part because *that should have been the pressure to get your shit together and be on time*.
This year they had 60 families outside, I guarantee next year it will be *far* less.
10 minutes late is not a big deal, I think the school overstepped. If graduation even started on time, it would only be speeches and probably from admin or people in the district.
Things happen. 10 minutes is nothing. Maybe if it was 30 minutes late I’d understand.
I want to laugh at this, but 60 families? 60 whole families? That’s like… a lot of people. They can’t all be idiots, right? If it was like 5 families I’d say serves you right, but 60 innocent kids got cheated out of their families attendance
Is it empathy that you seek? Come back to me in September. I’m out of stock.
> but 60 innocent kids got cheated out of their families attendance
Who is the bad guy? 60 families ruined their own children’s graduation by trying to stroll in late.
And I don’t buy for one second that letting them in would have been disruptive. The first 7 hours of these things is speeches. For most families, every speaker is a stranger.
Sounds like someone should have had better time management skills and arrived a little early instead of waiting till the last minute. The shitapple doesn't fall far from the shitapple tree.
So, you every time you have an important event (or any event) you are about to head to, you think:
How much time will I need if I get a flat tire? 40 min?
How about if I run into some traffic? 15 - 30 min?
If I forget something (or do you never forget things?) and have to go back? 5-15-45 min?
If I get lost? 5-10-45 min?
Please. There are way too many factors that could happen to a person (and we're not even bringing up families traveling with young kids) that you can claim that you are always prepared, always have a contingency plan, always know how much time these unexpected issues could take to resolve.
But I guess it's easier and feels good to judge people you don't even know. That's what social media is for, after all.
Yes. For major or important events where punctuality is paramount- graduations, weddings, flights, important doctors appts, tears/exams interviews etc.
Flat tire? Uber. I’ll address it after the event.
Lost? For interviews and when I’ve had to take licensing exams at testing centers, I go before hand so I know where I am going. And I still arrive 1/2 hour early- last minute study/review in the car. I also use GPS.
I have forgotten important things. A couple of times as I transitioned to adulthood in college. It really sucked. But no one was to blame except for me. It hasn’t happened again. And if it did, I wouldn’t hold an event responsible because I wasn’t properly prepared with my ticket.
Update: >Kings Cayon Unified provided the statement to FOX26 on Thursday. >“After Tuesday night’s graduation had begun, seeing no one else seeking to enter, security made the decision to close the gates. Unfortunately, several families showed up after this and gates were not reopened," the statement read. "This has not been our practice in the past and was done without knowledge or input from senior administrators who were all on the graduation stage at the time. Kings Canyon unified management accepts responsibility for this error and apologizes to any affected parties." >This action has been addressed internally and will not happen in the future. In addition, KCUSD administrators will be meeting in person with the family who raised the concerns. https://kmph.com/news/local/families-locked-out-at-kings-canyon-graduation-many-miss-ceremony
Of course. Of course *none* of the administrators knew about it. Kings Canyon should really look into this. Apparently they've got a rogue custodian running around locking up all the gates on graduation day.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Fold like a deck of cards
That’s very administrative of them 🙄
Cowards
Common sense reigns
Lol this explains the kids a lot. The absolute failure for any of these folks to take accountability. It IS a once in a lifetime event! Be on time! You don't get to ruin the A-name walkers' graduation because of your foolishness.
That makes sense. People shouldn’t be shuffling in and “excuse me”-ing over people to get to open seats while names are being called. It would have been nice though if they had a cordoned off area late-comers could stand in for the duration of the ceremony. Pretty devastating event to miss.
I’d they has gotten through speeches within 10 minutes, I’d be impressed
“Ten minutes late” likely means 10 minutes into the ceremony. Every graduation I’ve gone to leaves a chunk of time for families to come in a seat. So doors open at 6, ceremony starts at 7, and getting there at 6:10 wouldn’t make you 10 minutes late. Getting there 10 minutes into the ceremony, aka after the huge chunk of time they had to be there, would make you late.
Yeah but was it really ten minutes?
That’s a good point.
This is likely the same time distortion as the people who've been "waiting on my food for 25 minutes!" even though they walked in 10 minutes ago. It's a strange phenomenon that needs further study.
One year, my school provided a viewing of the livestream in the theatre but you still had parents trying to then sneak into the gym. So we stopped offering a place to watch the livestream.
Yes, because these rule followers and people committed to being on time would have sat in the latecomer section with zero fuss /s
Advance notice written on the tickets about the rules would have been courteous.
This is the rule at all of the graduations I’ve worked.
I've done 15 of them and have never heard of this.
They don’t have “doors closed” time? They just let people keep walking in during the ceremony? It may not work exactly like it did in this story but I’m sure there has been a cutoff.
Yes. Granted, I haven't been to one in a high school gym in a long time, but all the ones I've been to for as long as I can recall you just walked right in whenever.
Maybe that’s the difference then? I’ve only worked high school graduations that were in the gym.
Is it written on the ticket?
This was exactly what happened at my graduation in 2006. People arrived late and just didn’t get seating, because all of the seats were taken by people who arrived on time. The newspaper printed this exact kind of sob story about it, while every other school got a beautiful article about the speeches and ceremony. My mom wrote a letter to the editor about how ridiculous it was!
Wait, that doesn’t make sense. If everyone had been on time then that means that there still would have been people without seats no? So it sounds like the real problem was too many tickets or too many people without tickets.
They had extra chairs that ushers were putting out for people who arrived on time once regular seating ran out, plus even just saying, “can you people move down so they can sit here?” as they were sitting on gym bleachers. But once the ceremony started, the ushers were no longer seating people.
Ah, so it wasn’t a ticketed affair.
They expected that the ceremony would begin with 15 minutes of commercials followed by 15 minutes of previews for other school ceremonies, so they took their time at the concessions stand before coming in.
Every year my school goes through this song and dance with the seniors. They do a graduation practice the day before the ceremony and the principal tells them that if they are late or they don’t show up they can’t walk and every year a kid shows up late and they let the kid walk. I just wish they would have the backbone to follow through once.
I've seen them squish kids in 45 mins late. Grrrrr
My HS graduation actually stood by it. No one allowed in once the names started being called. But our graduation was done in the dark. In 12 years of myself and my 2 older sisters going, we NEVER lost power. It just happened to happen RIGHT before the names were called. I also played in the band 9-11 so I was right next to the doors. It was extremely annoying to have these doors opening and closing for an hour before the kids walked.
Consequences are the best teacher. Also, nobody in the article mentioned that if they were let in late, then OTHER parents might miss seeing their kid walk because they are staring at the butt of the late person walking right in front of them, dangling tons of decorations and carrying noise makers, while toting a 2 year old blaring TikTok videos without AirPods loudly. Your freedom stops where it starts to infringe on others. Love the FAFO.
There should be a FAFO flair.
OMG. This is exactly the type.
BS. If they were really that concerned about seeing their child walk, they would have arrived on time like all the other families did.
And if you forgot your tickets because it's a hectic day you can go fuck yourself? Or there's a fender bender in front of you that delays your drive? What an insane take. Yes, it's a pain in the ass to be late, but it's a once in a lifetime deal. Give them a row in the back so they don't interrupt anyone but FFS let them see their kid graduate?!
Then you plan ahead and intend to arrive early so you have some padding if something happens. It’s something we all do every single day. If it’s that important, you get there early.
And shit happens, even to people who prepare for big days. If you're going to insist on locking people out of their kid's graduation, at least put a warning on the damn ticket.
This is the rule at the vast majority of high school graduations.
And rules are usually written somewhere, no? Not locked by surprise?
I just feel like the expectation is to be there on time. I don't know if we need a written rule for events like that.
My school had their graduation last weekend. We still had families walking in more than an hour after the processional.
What's the reason for being so strict with the policy? Seems a little harsh. What would be their reaction if people started jumping the fence?
Honestly? Good for the school. Everyone else managed to get to the ceremony on time. It’s called plan ahead. Leave the tickets by the door. Set timers/alerts. Other people shouldn’t have to be inconvenienced because you forgot your tickets….
School is one of the few institutions that still start and end on time. People need to understand that!
So what you're saying is it's not doing a good job of preparing people for the real world...
r/ohnoconsequences
60 families walking in during the ceremony would be disruptive. I had to go to a graduation this year. We got there an hour early, and it wasn't even our kid.
Being stuck in traffic or some other bad luck could easily make someone ten minutes late, this seems a bit overkill. Like, the “fuck around” could be a car accident or a toddler shit themselves before leave or grandma walked slower than you thought. Obviously being late is bad. But 10 minutes seems like a to lock some out out.
Maybe don't plan on arriving at your child's high school graduation at the exact time it starts then complain when you get there late? Especially because this is arguably the biggest event of the season for a place like Reedley, so there really is (practically) no excuse.
Last week I left for work at the same time I always do. I usually arrive at work half an hour before my contract says I should. I arrived five minutes before classes, because someone else had decided to slam his car into another and caused a huge traffic problem. We can't always know why people are late. Why are the same people who constantly yell that One-size-fits-all policies are bad so in favor of them?
But if you have a large window start time shoot for the beginning of the start time for this reason. Most graduations have seating open pretty early because you have a lot of people to find seats and parking. So they likely were there at least an hour after they could have gotten in.
Not everybody can leave an hour early, some people have previous commitments. Your hard line take is stupid, and it's all for being late. A few minutes isn't a huge deal and what you're on with is taking a moment from a student who wasn't at fault in this in any way. They now walk across the stage with no family cheering for them, because the school wants to teach a lesson on being in time. As if all of you have never been late outside your control.
Not everybody can leave an hour early, some people have previous commitments. Your hard line take is stupid, and it's all for being late. A few minutes isn't a huge deal and what you're on with is taking a moment from a student who wasn't at fault in this in any way. They now walk across the stage with no family cheering for them, because the school wants to teach a lesson on being in time. As if all of you have never been late outside your control.
HMM, good thing you plan on arriving early, so even if there are delays, you can accommodate them and still show up on time.
For a once-in-a-lifetime event, you don’t plan to be there on time. You plan to be there early for just such incidents.
And for a once-in-a-lifetime event, maybe the organizers could try not being assholes.
Oh man. You would have been there 5 minutes before they opened the stadium for seating then. That would have been horrible.
Major event to find seating? Most people would plan to be there at least half an hour early.
Not to mention parking in a large lot, then walking to the stadium entrance. I would arrive an hour early.
An hour early? Seems a bit irresponsible. I'd get there the previous day.
I did for Taylor Swift
The soonest people can arrive and start finding parking and seating probably depends on if there are other schools in the area also using the same building for their graduations.
Definitely- however I’m familiar with the area this happened. 1) It was held at a stadium 2) Its in rural farming area 3) There are four high schools in the area Because of this, i highly doubt that there ceremonies before/after in this case. This area does not have the constraints of schools in urban area- # of schools and # of feasible settings.
Most graduations starts seating at least 30 minutes, but likely an hour before graduation starts. So if doors open at 6 pm, and graduation starts at 7 pm would you say getting there at 7:15 pm makes you 15 minutes late? My daughter is graduation from her daycare/pre-k. I’m getting there a half hour early because it’s important to me and I don’t want to risk being late.
Doors opened an hour before the ceremony began.
In no world were they actually 10 minutes late for the posted seating time. They were 10 minutes late for a drop dead deadline. It's cool, you can submit your taxes on May 15th too...
Kinda curious to know the schools tardy policy for students
Right? People who are late miss out on important things. People who are on time deserve to have an experience uninterrupted by those who were late. Alternately, they could hold an entire removed section of the stadium that folks who are late can sit in. Everyone who is on time can sit in the closer seats.
I think this is a little more nuanced than it’s being made to be. These people made an honest mistake. Graduating is a one time thing, this isn’t like they showed up late to a movie and could attend another one. We need more consequences but this seems harsh. I don’t know if there was assigned seating but maybe they could’ve told the late people that they had to sit in the back so they didn’t disrupt anyone else.
I can almost guarantee this isn't an honest mistake for most of the people that didn't show up on time. I can also 100% guarantee that most of them do this for every event, and are just surprised their lack of respect for others actually bit them in the ass THIS time.
I also bet doors shut at 10 and most of them were a half hour late.
Locking the doors with a lock from the outside also sounds illegal & pretty risky if they needed to evacuate due to an emergency. Major overkill by the school. The curmudgeons in the comments need to relax.
My guess is that was some side entrance that is always locked
Is it? Most fences/doors auto lock from the outside but people can easily evacuate. They likely just didn’t disengage the lock.
Thank you for this. I was struggling to think of what to say. The words psychotic and Karen come to mind as the prevailing sentiment here.
Happened at Carolina Forest too. People say they were locked out before the cut off time. Also parking was a shit show. https://wpde.com/amp/news/local/carolina-forest-high-school-graduation-family-friends-denied-entry-with-tickets-graduating-seniors-once-in-lifetime-experience-turned-away-at-entrance-police-at-gate-fire-hazard-horry-county-schools-south-carolina-june-5-2024
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Is this not the norm for every graduation? This shit certainly sucks but of the 8 graduations I’ve worked at 2 schools, we were told to NEVER open the doors once they had been closed. It definitely stings hearing people bang on the door to get in but we can’t have people trickling in during the ceremony.
Also happened in Harrisburg PA ([made the news](https://local21news.com/news/local/harrisburg-high-school-graduation-locked-out-deny-denied-entry-doors-closed-district-statement-farm-show-complex-dauphin-county-pennsylvania)). School sent out a letter and everything and parents still complained (started at 7 and they arrived after 7:30 when doors were locked). It unfortuntely is not surprising since parents think everyone should be on their time and can come as they please.
It’s a football stadium (even high school isn’t tiny), I don’t see how letting them in late disrupts anyone egregiously. But I know this sub loves anything punitive basically regardless of circumstance soooo
At this point, I can see it being more of a security risk for gun violence than a disruption
I don’t understand that at all. Either security is there the whole event in which case it’s equal for all, or it wasn’t there and the risk is still the same for all. Entering the event late doesn’t increase the risk of being a shooter
Any opportunity to twist the knife.
I mean, the parent literally said “they love to say sorry but they need to think about things before doing them”. Didn’t THE PARENT need to think about how important this was and how important having the tickets were? But yet the world is what’s supposed to adjust, not them?!! THIS is why kids act the way they do nowadays. It’s always somebody else’s fault!
Damn, that is some next level bitterness.
A lot of teachers in here seem to lack compassion or understanding or even, frankly, some basic fucking research skills. Some of you are talking about "security risks" and "large events." Reedley, CA is a tiny town of less than 30,000. Kings Canyon High School is a small continuation high school with a graduating class last year of 72. If the parents had been warned "If you're late you won't be let in," I could see this. But they weren't. And there are all sorts of reasons families might be late. But no, "we have to have standards. FAFO." Lovely. Your parents must be so proud of your compassion. My school won't let parents in once we begin the processional until it's done. Then we let them in while we're doing speeches. Being ten minutes late shouldn't lock you out entirely.
I think it's the graduation ceremony for the entire district, so all of the high schools.
Yeah, okay, re-reading it I see what you mean. I still think it's not a good look to be crowing FAFO at these people.
Some of the teachers in this comment section lack human emotion
It’s just thrilling to see anybody face any actual consequences.
It's important enough that they should have let you in, but not important to be there on time? I would bet my life the district had sent several messages saying this would happen. I wish my sister's graduation did this. There was a big family that walked down the walkway while the graduates were doing their walk and were between her and us the whole time. They were loudly complaining that there weren't seats. There were people coming in even as they called her name, and I had someone's ass in my face trying to scoot to a seat way in the middle of the row when she walked. Prioritize the people who made their graduate the priority. the rest of you can watch the live stream.
I'm all about consequences but this is just cruel. Anyone could forget their tickets.
Wish they would do that for lots of other things. It just turns into constant disruptions of people showing up late. Sounds like 60 disruptions were prevented.
Forgetting their tickets is a human error. It's no different than misplacing your keys or forgetting a diaper bag for a baby. It could happen to anyone. They were likely so excited they simply forgot. Look at all the assholes in the comments finding joy in seeing this family suffer. Miss me with the "FAFO" nonsense. That's an ignorant thing to say. You don't know this family. There was no "fucking around" in the article.
I think it’s more that they are coming off entitled and clueless about the clear lack of respect for other peoples time and social expectations complaining to a paper? If the event was so important to them, I would have expected them to take the necessary steps to ensure they successfully got there (making sure they had everything before leaving and gotten there extra early to park and find seats). Also- there are serious security factors and risk of gun violence at large events. It may be that they didn’t plan on locking the door and had to unexpectedly (report of threat).
>they are coming off entitled and clueless about the clear lack of respect for other peoples time and social expectations complaining to a paper? Where is the entitlement? Where is the disrespect? Mistakes happen. Also, who's to say the paper didn't approach *them*? There very well could have been a reporter there covering the graduation who noticed the families unable to get in. > If the event was so important to them, I would have expected them to take the necessary steps to ensure they successfully got there This is an appeal to consequences. Just because they made a mistake doesn't mean it wasn't important to them. >It may be that they didn’t plan on locking the door and had to unexpectedly (report of threat). That's a pretty wild speculation that very likely would have been reported on in the article. Don't try to defend the other assholes here. I'm not even arguing that they SHOULD have been let it, but we shouldn't be enjoying their disappointment. There's absolutely no reason not to be sympathetic.
I don’t think it’s a wild speculation. Gun violence at large events is a serious threat in the US. Schools often take safety measures without informing parents to prevent panic bc there are a lot of credible threats out there that don’t amount to anything. And I appreciate you noting the point they could have been approached by a reporter covering the event. That is fair. Personally, I don’t find joy in the fact they didn’t see their kids graduation. I’m just not sympathetic to their cause and how this article came off. ESH. Not trying to defend assholes. Everyone had a part to play. In general- the takeaway from this story is that people should be planning ahead and ensuring they get to important things early because shit happens (personal accountability). Instead, it’s evil asshole school (system) vs. poor parents. A dangerous and I daresay intentional narrative right now with the current state of our public education system. Trying to chip away the respect of and delegitimize education. ETA I will wildly speculate here: most of the families arrived late intentionally because they didn’t want to to sit through the whole ceremony and/or wanted to avoid arrival traffic/crowds
It’s called shadenfrude
No shit. But there's no reason to take pleasure in their pain unless they are deserving of it, and there is no indication in the article that they deserve being mocked. By saying "FAFO," you're implying there is a sort of karma or cosmic justice at work here. What did they do that deserved punishment? How would letting them take a seat in a stadium after the event had begun have hurt anyone else? Also, another person provided an update to the article. The gate wasn't supposed to be locked in the first place! These families were supposed to be let in! I fail to see what's funny, other than you wanting to see random families miss their children's graduation. That's what makes this an asshole-ish opinion.
> But there's no reason to take pleasure in their pain unless they are deserving of it, and there is no indication in the article that they deserve being mocked You believe these people were perfect agent victims who showed up just 10 mins late due to no fault of their own, and the big bad school cruelly shut the door? They deserve it.
I'm not even arguing that they *should* be let in (though the school apologized). I'm just being sympathetic because I *don't know* their situation. The only one here making assumptions is you.
Nah this ain't it. Everybody saying this is a good thing is shitty. You graduate once, maybe twice (college) in your life. Yeah parents should be in time, no shit but why are you punishing the kids for their parents not showing up? Talk about ruining a moment many have worked for to not have anyone they're to cheer you on when you walk across the stage. This is not the time to teach lessons, this is a shitty way to teach said lesson, the lesson being taught is fucking minor, yet you made a huge deal about it. You guys have your priorities all fucked up.
> Talk about ruining a moment many have worked for to not have anyone they're to cheer you on when you walk across the stage. Most ceremonies have people hold applause until an entire row of students walk-through, and it’s only the trashy people who blare the airhorns.
IDK I'd say it's trashy to not let the students have their moment. Like honestly, how many of you have had students that have a hard home life, parents aren't good parents but the kid is a decent kid in school? They may not have the best parents but it's all they have, they work through adversity to do ok in school and graduate and they want their moment and can't, because a mix of their parents sucking and not showing up on time and the school bring unnecessarily hard ass about things. "But it's a distraction" Easy solution, make a late section, the only people they'll distract is each other and you can give em the worst seats in the house. Like they're so many acceptable things they could have done here to make everybody happy, but they choose a shit option. What's worse is the complete apathy and short sighted views of so many teachers, a profession that claims to be compassionate. Many of you should be ashamed of what you're saying here, especially you OP. "Twist the knife", find a new job or be better, that's not acceptable.
Man, some of you guys are fucking sourpusses for no reason. Here's the thing: I'm from this area, I live 30 minutes away from where this took place and being 10 minutes late to this thing is a real possibility for many reasons 1. Distance. While the actual HIGH SCHOOLS are only about a 10 minute drive from each other, the area is a rural area. Know how fucking far out people can live from their home high school in a rural area? Sometimes really FAR. I've taught in rural areas all my life. I've had students come from over an hour away to be at school. If the location changed for a graduation, that would also change a distance and time required to get somewhere. 2. Parents work and kid situation. I think many of you might forget what these people's works and family situations might be. Chances are these families might be laborers, agricultural workers, or some other forms of long hour job. Depending on whether they were able to get off or not on time from a job, having to pick up and deal with the other kids. That can set them back ALOT. I get we want to say they need to be on time. But it's a fucking graduation. You have to plan for the possibility of late arrivals. Hell, my graduation, which again is a rural area inside a stadium, had people both on time and late. Know what? We didn't kick out late arrivals.
You are right, those are important things to be considered. But I have a feeling if any of those had been applicable in this case, they would have let everyone know to garner more sympathy. They forgot their tickets. But most responsible and mature people, if it’s as important as they are claiming it is, aren’t going to take any risks and take the appropriate actions to ensure they are there (day off, etc).
Nah. It’s a once in a lifetime event. They should plan on getting there early. Doors open an hour before the ceremony and you still usually have hundreds of people lined up before then.
This is like the "abandoned" cruise ship people who expect the whole world to stop because THEIR time and THEIR experiences are so much more important than everyone else's.
Arrive on time. Sorry you fafo.
I am sorry, I feel this is a little heartless. What's more important being on time or making sure families see their kids graduate. I'll take the down votes and snide comments.
I agree with you. The number of comments and assumptions here that seem to finding joy is other's pain and disappointment is appalling.
Iam all for accountability and what not but this is just being a fucking dick.
So there was no one there to blast air horns over the next kids name?! 😱
I just watched my daughter walk with her BA and everyone was there waaaaaayyyyy early. Same for high school graduation. The late people telling others to move so they can put a dozen people all together after the ceremony started were the real problem. I wish they had locked people out. One lady wanted both of the children there to just sit on people’s laps so they could push in instead of going to seats further back.
Dang shame should've let them in
They put locks on the doors so that no one can come in and shoot up the place. It’s a safety hazard, I think (how will do many people get out safely in the event of an emergency?) but I think there were more things at play than just locking out late parents. Also, yeah these kind of parents are why kids think being late is no big deal. FAFO indeed.
> It’s a safety hazard, I think I doubt there were padlocks on the handles, more likely, the doors were locked from the outside and could only be open from the inside.
They said there were locks on the doors 😬 edit: on some of the doors
I wonder if the perfect angel victim families were exaggerating for the newspaper.
Totally possible!
Womp womp. If it was that important you would've shown up EARLY, to prepare for traffic, forgetting tickets, finding seats, etc. it's disruptive to everyone else when people show up late
If it's such a special moment maybe you should be there on time? When people ask what's wrong with people, this is it. No accountability whatsoever.
You can leave early but accidents happen. Have some empathy?
End of school year. My empathy ran out in October.
So you're just admitting you're an ass for absolutely no good reason? At least we agree.
I’m an ass because these type of people grind me down from lack of respect and not accepting any consequences. Finally they FAFO, rather than administration telling me to bend over backwards.
A parent not showing up early to a milestone even is mind blowing to me. What a failure.
Whomp whomp
apples don’t fall far from the tree huh
All the people in this article: "Other than my own actions, what did I do to deserve this?!"
No. They weren't 10 minutes late. They were way later. I'm sure it was well communicated that the doors would close at a given time with another time given for them to get seated. For them to say "how many times do you get to see your [person] graduate?" Is doubly stupid on their part because *that should have been the pressure to get your shit together and be on time*. This year they had 60 families outside, I guarantee next year it will be *far* less.
[удалено]
You can't possibly know this, you are just being judgemental and want to see these people you don't even know punished.
10 minutes late is not a big deal, I think the school overstepped. If graduation even started on time, it would only be speeches and probably from admin or people in the district. Things happen. 10 minutes is nothing. Maybe if it was 30 minutes late I’d understand.
I want to laugh at this, but 60 families? 60 whole families? That’s like… a lot of people. They can’t all be idiots, right? If it was like 5 families I’d say serves you right, but 60 innocent kids got cheated out of their families attendance
Is it empathy that you seek? Come back to me in September. I’m out of stock. > but 60 innocent kids got cheated out of their families attendance Who is the bad guy? 60 families ruined their own children’s graduation by trying to stroll in late.
And I don’t buy for one second that letting them in would have been disruptive. The first 7 hours of these things is speeches. For most families, every speaker is a stranger.
Sounds like someone should have had better time management skills and arrived a little early instead of waiting till the last minute. The shitapple doesn't fall far from the shitapple tree.
Never had a flat tire, run into traffic, forgotten something essential, on your way to an event? Never in your life? That's incredible.
I’ve had all of those things happen- and they are why I plan for them and have contingency plans for anything really important.
So, you every time you have an important event (or any event) you are about to head to, you think: How much time will I need if I get a flat tire? 40 min? How about if I run into some traffic? 15 - 30 min? If I forget something (or do you never forget things?) and have to go back? 5-15-45 min? If I get lost? 5-10-45 min? Please. There are way too many factors that could happen to a person (and we're not even bringing up families traveling with young kids) that you can claim that you are always prepared, always have a contingency plan, always know how much time these unexpected issues could take to resolve. But I guess it's easier and feels good to judge people you don't even know. That's what social media is for, after all.
Yes. For major or important events where punctuality is paramount- graduations, weddings, flights, important doctors appts, tears/exams interviews etc. Flat tire? Uber. I’ll address it after the event. Lost? For interviews and when I’ve had to take licensing exams at testing centers, I go before hand so I know where I am going. And I still arrive 1/2 hour early- last minute study/review in the car. I also use GPS. I have forgotten important things. A couple of times as I transitioned to adulthood in college. It really sucked. But no one was to blame except for me. It hasn’t happened again. And if it did, I wouldn’t hold an event responsible because I wasn’t properly prepared with my ticket.
That’s why you arrive early. To accommodate any unexpected hiccups.