A Texas student has been stripped of her valedictorian status. Her school says she lost her title due to an error, but she believes the school has ulterior motives.
A few days after completing freshman orientation at the University of Texas, Destiny Brannon and her parents were called to meet with officials from her high school, DeSoto ISD. It was at that June 12 meeting that Brannon received shocking news: she was no longer the school’s valedictorian.
According to Dallas News, the school says it accidentally used the fall term grades instead of the spring term to calculate the ranking. The error wasn’t discovered until the school started its final transcripts.
Brannon was bumped down to number 3, while student Brian Uzuegbunam went from number 4 to the top spot.
The school apologized for the mistake, saying it “regrets that it failed to ensure that systems were in place to prevent this from occurring, but has since worked diligently to ensure that those at fault have been held accountable and that there is a system and process in place to verify student academic ranking as based on grades, grade point average and course weighting.”
The school says those responsible for the error have been fired.
Brannon called the incident “embarrassing,” and is calling BS on the school’s excuse. She believes the school stripped her of the title because she criticized the school during her graduation speech.
In the speech, she accused Desoto ISD of prioritizing their athletics program and hiring “subpar teachers who honestly weren’t there to benefit the needs of DeSoto students.”
A PR rep for the school district says the "recalibrated rankings are in no way a form of retribution or in response to Brannon's address."
The supposed mix-up has affected Brannon’s ability to pay for her post-secondary education.
Texas high-school valedictorians receive a free year of education at a state university, and since Brannon’s ranking has changed, she is no longer eligible for her University of Texas scholarship.
She’s counting on some other scholarships she has received to help soften the financial blow, and has started a GoFundMe account to collect donations. The University of Texas told her she could apply for scholarships to fund her subsequent years in college.
The school district claims it is working with both Brannon and Uzuegbunam to make sure both “will still be able to pursue their intended pathways,” but she says the school has yet to reach out to her.
"That is my hope, but do I think this will happen? No," Brannon said. "No one at that school or in its administration is going to take accountability on this."
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