Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507190005
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: YORKTOWN                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPELLED FOR BOMB THREAT, BOY GETS SOLO GRADUATION

But he earned the credits he needed for a diploma at home, and York County Superintendent Steven Staples decided to recognize the young man for his work by letting him graduate in a private ceremony.

``If the kid's going to graduate, I think there ought to be some recognition of the significance of the event,'' Staples said. ``I don't want any student picking up their diploma in the office from an office worker.''

A few hours before his classmates gathered for a mass graduation at the Hampton Coliseum last Thursday, Rhodes' parents, friends and teachers crowded into a conference room at the York school offices. The beaming senior wore a blue cap and gown.

``He was the only graduate there, but they had printed programs, they had plants, and they had decorated a little bit,'' said his mother, Missy Rhodes. ``They played `Pomp and Circumstance' and said the Pledge of Allegiance, and Dr. Staples gave a little speech on overcoming things that stand in your way.''

Rhodes pleaded guilty to calling in the Sept. 19 bomb threat, a felony. He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Even though he was expelled, school officials ruled that Rhodes' attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had something to do with his misbehavior. Under federal law governing disabilities, the county had to continue his education. The young man studied at home under a York County teacher for the remainder of the 1994-95 school year.

Missy Rhodes said she thought the decision to exclude her son from the school graduation was harsh, but she accepted a solo graduation as a compromise