McBride High seniors fight back after principal scraps traditional graduation ceremony

In collaboration with JackieRaeTV.com

Ernest McBride High School seniors were informed last week that their June 12 graduation will not follow a traditional ceremony format—a decision that has sparked frustration among students and parents.

During a school assembly, Principal Stephanie Dunn announced that instead of walking across the stage in front of their peers, students will line up behind the stage, walk out to receive their diplomas, and then take their seats. The formal ceremony will begin only after all students are seated.

The format change means students who receive diplomas first will not be seen by classmates still waiting backstage, eliminating a shared experience. Students say the decision was met with immediate resistance.

Joseph Nguyễn, a graduating senior, said he had long envisioned a traditional ceremony after watching his sisters graduate from McBride.

 “That’s kind of the memory I’ve been holding for the past four years,” he said. “It just kind of hurt that I wasn’t going to be able to have that experience. I also have a brother who goes here, and it hurts that he won’t be able to have that experience either.”

He said Dunn also said that the format will be permanent, which will impact future graduating classes.

Six students, including Jo Torres, Zack Luyties and Italy Gonzalez, organized a petition drive after the announcement. They gathered signatures from 121 of the school's 170 seniors calling for a return to the traditional ceremony format.

Dunn did not respond to phone calls and emails for this story. School district Superintendent Jill Baker's office also did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment.

But the six students who organized the petition say that when they presented the petition to Dunn, she cited hot weather as the reason for the change.

Italy Gonzalez said that when she insisted that Dunn listen to their pleas, she received a troubling response.

"She told me that if I didn't want to go to graduation I didn't have to," Gonzalez said. "It's not required."

The Class of 2025 includes 25 valedictorians among its 170 students. Jissel Preciado, who is graduating with honors, said the high-achieving class deserves a traditional celebration.

"Around 40-50% of us are honor students," she said. Preciadl also noted that the experience has been detrimental to her classmates. "Everyone's just kind of has admitted defeat," she said. "We feel that she won't hear us because she's shown that she won't hear us."

She attributed the dismissive response to a pattern of behavior since Dunn became principal last year.

"When she showed up to this school, she never introduced herself," Preciadl said. "She never went to our classes. Never held an assembly, no one ever told us who she was. We just had to figure it out."

After unsuccessful negotiations with Dunn, students then turned to their parents for support. Several of those parents say they encountered similar dismissiveness from Dunn.

Nora Torres, the mother of Jiissel Preciadl, said that she was told the ceremony format had changed because the school lacked sufficient volunteers to help with graduation. But when Torres said she offered to volunteer, it didn't prompt further negotiations.

Amy Luyties, the mother of graduating senior Zack Luyties, rejected that explanation entirely.

“We’ve had two kids run through Long Beach Unified,” she said, adding that her daughter graduated from McBride three years ago with the help of parent volunteers.

Luyties said parents would gladly volunteer if it meant preserving the tradition of students cheering on their classmates, and one email requesting volunteers would have solved any staffing issues.

Oscar Preciadl, Jiissel's father, said the students' academic commitment to Long Beach Unified School District warrants a traditional graduation ceremony.

"It's something, what they've accomplished academically," he said. "They've given you 716,400 minutes to show that you're a productive school district. Please have this principal give them 20."

With parental help, students created an online petition that has over 2,500 signatures from community members supporting a return to the traditional format.

Nguyễn said students hope that broader community support will prompt meaningful dialogue with the administration and acknowledgment of the change's impact.

"It does hurt the way that she's treated us and the way that she's been dismissive," he said.