EPISD explains why Andress students didn’t receive diplomas at commencement

ABC-7 received an email from a viewer who is angry Andress High graduates didn’t receive their actual diplomas when they graduated last weekend.

That email, from a viewer who wants to remain anonymous, stated every student who graduated received a diploma case with a note instructing them to show up at school this Thursday to pick up their diplomas.

“It is common practice for students not to receive their actual diploma at the ceremony,” EPISD Spokesperson Melissa Martinez told ABC-7. “It is fairly common for campuses to then ask students to pick up their actual diploma after, maybe a week later or so.

“When I was in high school it was the same thing. I think I got my diploma mailed and we’ve checked with other districts and they do the same,” Martinez added, adding the school was making final grade calculations until the last minute.

“There’s several factors to it, but definitely when you have 600 students and a lot of those not only grades, but rankings, come down to the wire, come down to the last assignment, finals, there’s a lot of things being calculated up until the last moment possible,” Martinez said, “so that students are able to graduate and making sure that every student is meeting the requirements.”

According to the email that ABC-7 received registrars from other schools were called to the administration building at Andress on Friday night until well after midnight, trying to sort out the situation, just hours before the Saturday graduation.

ABC-7 asked Martinez if there was any way it could be done earlier.

“You know, it certainly depends on the student’s grades,” Martinez said. “Some students are coming down to an assignment that could make all the difference for them. So we certainly want them to have the opportunity.”

Martinez acknowledged this is not an ideal situation at a time when students are planning for the future. “It’s not unheard of, to be crunching numbers at the last minute,” she added.

ABC-7 called other school districts to see if this is common practice. Canutillo and Socorro ISD’s told ABC-7 their students do receive their actual diplomas on graduation day.

A Socorro spokesman said they also finalize top ten percent students a week before graduation.

ABC-7 has yet to hear back from the Ysleta school district.