Non-graduation day

November 12 2020 was a big day for Zach and for me. This was the day that Zach was due to graduate from High School.

Thirteen years of school completed and I was very proud of the impressive young man all that education had produced.

I was excited!

However, when I arrived at the school to mingle with the parents as they waited to see their children graduate, Zach called me on my phone to tell me that the Headmaster had dismissed him at the school gate.

Zach had arrived travelling down the hill at the front of the school on his skateboard. He was traveling at speed -- as he had done every day for the last year or so.

However, Zach was not prepared for the response of the Headmaster standing outside the school to greet students and families arriving. The Headmaster stepped out and commanded that Zach stop immediately. 

After stopping (with some difficulty), there was a short, unpleasant engagement that ended with the Headmaster losing his cool and commanding that Zach leave the school immediately.

The graduation proceeded - without Zach. See 40'10" to 40'20" in this live broadcast for the moment when Zach does not get to walk!

While I wasn't present, after talking to both Zach and the Headmaster separately, it seems to me that the whole exchange was a stupid argument between two child-men. However, only one of them was 17 years old, the other was in his 50s.

I arranged to meet the Headmaster a week later.

He was mostly unrepentant, but conceded that I was far calmer than he had expected me to be. (He should have seen the inside!)

However, I was not satisfied by his unapologetic stance. 

I was assured later by the region's Superintendent that the Headmaster had messed up and it would not be allowed to happen again. The Superintendent happened to be present as a father for the graduation of his own son that day, and was furious when he heard from his son, a friend of Zach's, what had happened.

I was also reassured by another parent who wrote to the Headmaster independently to express her dismay. She received a letter from the Headmaster in which he declared: "I genuinely regret the impact my actions on that morning ... While Zac’s behaviour warranted a consequence, the one I gave him was not proportionate to what he did."

The happy final chapter was that Zach was mostly unfazed by the whole incident. A few days after the non-graduation, Zach showed up for his School Formal... on his skateboard. 

The Headmaster was present at the School Formal and was reported to have been fuming. Teachers, parents and students who knew what had happened congratulated Zach on his style.

The irony was doubly delicious because Zach had planned to show up on a skateboard for months before the event. So the Headmaster had created this uplifting moment.