THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406100203
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Pruitt
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Medium
For all their encouragement to push the envelope, to overcome fear of taking life-enriching chances, school administrators as a lot are about as bold as the Cowardly Lion.
{REST} Like ministers, they know that their supervisors far outnumber the school-system bureaucrats to whom they report directly. They realize that every parent of every child in their schools also is their boss and that making waves is just not one of their priorities.
Principal Donald T. Alvey was put in a unique position. By tradition, Smithfield High's valedictorian speaks at graduation. But circumstances this year are anything but traditional: Smithfield High's superachieving valedictorian, Darrell H. Norton, also faces two felony charges - one count each of burglary while armed with a deadly weapon and grand larceny.
It's important to note that he has been charged, not convicted. He is free on $25,000 bond and facing trial July 13.
Mr. Alvey said he reached his decision after discussions with faculty members, seniors and parents. School policy permits the principal to depart from tradition and select another speaker, he said. And there was the possibility of disruption if Mr. Norton spoke.
OK, so Mr. Alvey is within his right. That still leaves some questions:
What of the cherished American tradition of innocent until proven guilty? After all the lessons about the judicial system's key role in a democracy, what message are the graduates and others to gather from this action? Indeed, what does it say about the students' beliefs, since they supposedly figured in Mr. Alvey's action?
What of free speech? If Mr. Norton's fellow students feel so strongly that he should not be a graduation speaker that they would stage ``some kind of disruption,'' as Mr. Alvey put it, should the principal be in the business of preempting that?
And again we must ask, if seniors would turn their backs on a speaker because he is accused of crimes, what does this say of them?
Lest anyone argue that the dignity of the ceremony was at stake, we can only assume that Smithfield High's graduations are more pompous events than the noisy free-for-alls some parents have had to endure at other schools.
And a question for Mr. Norton: What could he possibly say? Valedictory speeches often are heavy on platitudes about how academic achievement isn't enough, about how the graduates are the hope of the future, about how foundations such as character must be the cornerstones of life. It's hard to envision Mr. Norton's comfort with all this, even if he is of unblemished character and heads toward trial confident of vindication.
Certainly, he couldn't talk of this major life ``trial'' of facing possible felony convictions at such a young age and after enviable academic achievements. No defense attorney would allow that.
Thanks to Mr. Alvey, ``with the best interest of this school in mind,'' the valedictorian will be spared the difficulty of delivering any speech. Fellow students will thus be spared a very important test, a test of how sincerely they've taken the lessons in the judicial system, the ever-valued concept of innocent until proven guilty and, not insignificantly, the test of friendship in difficult times.
Whether Mr. Norton is found guilty or innocent, every parent surely must share the pain of this misfortune. What was envisioned as a time of celebration for his family has turned, instead, into a tortuous nightmare.
We can only pray for justice. Otherwise, the honors and awards up to this point of Darrell H. Norton's life can mean little.
by CNB