Severely disabled students celebrate graduation at Miller School
Nicholas Burns was named prom king and honored at a graduation ceremony May 23 while his mom, dad and grandmother cheered and held up signs when his name was called. His mom, Jennifer Burns, removed her glasses and wiped away tears with her free hand. Parents crying at graduation is not unusual, but this ceremony meant more to her than it does to most parents.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “Just over a year ago, his doctor told him he had two or three weeks to live. … We didn’t think we were ever going to see this day.”
Nicholas Burns, 17, is a student at the John F. Miller School, 3840 Pecos-McLeod Interconnect, a campus for the most severely disabled students in the Clark County School District. Last April his degenerative neurological disease reached his brain stem, and his heart rate plummeted. He was in hospice care until March.
About 50 family members and friends attended the graduation ceremony, which recognized nine Miller students. It’s a ceremonial graduation — they do not receive a diploma. The school has about 125 students, and past graduation ceremonies have had as few as three students. Principal Jean Trudell does it to give them an experience that every other student in the school district has the chance to have.
“To me, graduation is the most important event of the year,” Trudell said. “A lot of kids don’t reach this milestone.
“They face more challenges in life than the average person recognizes. Every one of our kids have gone through multiple surgeries. Their parents have been told they’re not going to survive. … I think people look at them and say they can’t. They can.”
Trudell said she never gets used to it, but attending students’ funerals is a common occurrence for her. She has lost seven students in a single school year. During the previous week, the school had to make four 911 calls.
Several parents at the ceremony used the word “overwhelming” to describe their feelings. There was Lisa Jones, whose son, Joseph, deals with three degenerative conditions.
“We do our best,” she said. “Every day is a challenge for us.”
John Stephens III saw his daughter, Camille, graduate a year later than usual. Camille, 19, was in the hospital during last year’s ceremony, but Trudell allowed her a redo.
“You don’t feel so alone and isolated,” Stephens said of being at the event. “Even though we have different ailments or illnesses, we can all come together as one unit to share and encourage and congratulate each others’ children.”
And there were Fred and Gaye Gundlach, who are caring for their granddaughter, Jordyn, since her mom — their daughter — died in 2009.
“They’re just like any kid,” Fred Gundlach said. “They’re still human beings. We can’t just turn our backs on them. They’re part of this world.”
Near the end of the ceremony, the parents, staff and school board trustees gave Trudell a standing ovation. She said she was “flabbergasted” and has never seen that in her 27 years as a principal. And she would prefer it not happen again.
“To me, that’s not important,” she said, embarrassed by the attention. “It’s not about me. It’s about the kids. … I don’t feel any different than anyone else here. Everyone’s job here is just as important as mine.”
After the ceremony, other high school students joined the graduates in the multipurpose room for prom. Girls came dressed in gowns and the guys in tuxedos. Parents and teachers danced with the students, and for a while, with Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky” blasting through the speakers, it was just a school dance.
“They usually don’t get any recognition,” Jennifer Burns said. “Most of the time, when we’re out and about, we get the ‘pity’ faces or the ‘if I don’t look at it, it’s not there’ faces. The fact they can have some sense of normalcy that every other child gets is special.”
Burns does not make plans too far in the future. She calls each day spent with her son an “extra day” and a “blessing.”
The next milestone she is looking forward to is in August. She hopes to get to see her son turn 18.
Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 702-224-5524.
