Blended high school senior may not get the graduation he earned

HERRIMAN, Utah (ABC4) — A senior at Layton High School might not get to wear his cap and gown this year to take photos with friends and family after graduation.

“It’s getting ripped away from me in some part of the way,” Rave Morby said. 

Morby is a senior in high school, half homeschooled and half online and through Layton High School.

He was shocked when the school told him the bad news.

“The high school doesn’t want to give me the cap and gown until after graduation is all over and everyone is turning in their cap and gowns,” Morby said.

Now, his already purchased cap and gown might not be worn on graduation day. 

“I just want to get my cap and gown to take pictures because I feel like that’s the most memorable part of graduation for everyone,” Morby said.

After years of hard work, Rave’s mom urged his school to reconsider.

“I know things take time. I know there are rules and standards for everyone. I didn’t think it was that much to ask for a cap and gown for pictures,” Lindsie Morby, his mom said. 

Rave has an extremely rare genetic disorder triple A syndrome along with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

His mom, who has a degree in education, homeschooled him from when he was in fourth grade until now. Because of medical reasons, he was missing a lot of school, so they switched to homeschooling.

Now, Lindsie Morby says there are new rules for homeschooling regarding graduation credits she didn’t know about.

She says he’s graduating with the correct number of credits but not to the school’s standards, even though colleges have already been accepting him and offering him scholarships.

“I guess there is now in place of a review system in place, a review system of homeschool curriculum so that high schools can choose to accept it and grandfather them in. They get to walk and get the whole thing, but I guess it’s an all-or-nothing deal. You either get everything through the high school or nothing,” Lindsie Morby said. 

Rave started an online petition hoping to get the school and district to let him wear his cap and gown and snap a few photos with friends to commemorate the big day.

“I hope my principal and counselor are going to be willing to let me have my cap and gown at the end of the day and have my memory. I hope if it doesn’t happen for me, I just want to see a change for other people,” Rave Morby said.

ABC4 has reached out to the school and the school district and have not heard back.