BAKERSFIELD, CA - A group of senior North High School students said they were singled out and publicly shamed for not making the grades to graduate. The Kern High School District issued apologies to all senior students, saying a big and insensitive mistake was made at the assembly by the actions of one of the school's truancy officers that went against district policy.
The senior activities assembly is supposed to be a fun time for the final year students, while the underclassmen take exams.
"Actually, It turned out to be a horrible day for my brother Colton and my brother John," said senior Shae Hotschulte, who secretly recorded the incident on his cell phone.
In the video, the truancy officer, who has not been identified, came in with the dean and took the microphone to address the students.
"So, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to call out some names and we're going to send them down to Ms. Robles," said the man in the video.
"These 34 students, I want you to stop when I call your name, stand up, come towards me and go that way. And, I want you to look at this group behind you, and as you walk away, keep looking and keep in mind what you're sacrificing today."
Several students said they were upset by the incident.
"They have this list called the Red Line List and it's for people who aren't graduating, but you're not supposed to go and tell everyone who's not graduating," said Hotschulte.
"You said he's not graduating, she's not graduating, and he's not graduating. To me that's like bullying in a way, because you just embarrassed them in front of the whole school."
Hotschulte's brother was suspended for cursing and slamming a door after the incident. Wednesday morning, his suspension was lifted and the vice principal apologized to him and his father.
"He [vice principal] apologized to me and apologized to Colton," said father Larry Ellis.
"He's doing the right actions. This never should have happened and he's been to every period and apologized to every senior going to this school."
The Kern High School District said the truancy officer is a classified district employee and didn't have authorization from administrators to call out the 34 students' names.
"It's not standard practice to abuse students verbally in this way," said district spokesman John Teves.
"He hasn't had the training or the kind of experience with students and these kinds of matters a teacher, a counselor or a principal would have."
The district said it was investigating why the principal and vice principal were not present at the assembly. Teves said he believes the teachers present may not have stopped him, because they were unsure of the assembly plans and what was or wasn't authorized.
The 34 students still have time to pull up their grades to graduate with their classmates.
"We have six weeks," said Hotschulte.
"For all we know the people who are graduating could mess up in those six weeks and not graduate. So that's not right to punk all these other kids out."
The Kern High School District has not taken any disciplinary action against the truancy officer yet.