Moms advocate for more recognition of deceased children at high school graduation

UNION COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Christopher Stanfield was a junior at Porter Ridge High School. He was killed on impact in a car accident in October of 2023.

His mom, Leslie Stanfield, has dealt with the grief since and was reminded of it when he did not cross the stage last month at graduation.

“I don’t wish this experience on any other parent or family,” Stanfield said. “I just felt like it was just more heart-wrenching to personally go to graduation.”

Stanfield said the district invited her to attend his graduation and held a moment of silence instead of reading his name, like the other graduates.

Tina Sykes-Mosley lost her son, Marcus, nearly five years ago to gun violence. She’s been helping Union County mothers who did not have the names of their children read at graduation come together.

“That’s a slap in the face,” Sykes-Mosley said. “The time that they took to do a silent prayer, they could have called his name and allowed his mother to walk across the stage to receive her son’s diploma.”

Stanfield said she reached out to the Union County School Board to find out how she could honor her son and was shocked to find out that it was not part of the school’s policy to have her son’s name read aloud during graduation.

A school spokesperson tells Queen City News that the district is reviewing its current policies to better accommodate these requests in the future.

“To me, it felt like he didn’t matter, his life didn’t matter,” Stanfield said.

Sykes-Mosely started a nonprofit, Mothers Advocating for Real Change and Unwavering Support (M.A.R.C.U.S.), to support women like her who have lost children. She is helping to get these moms who could not honor their children the way they wished before the Union County School Board at its Tuesday night meeting.

“Union County sent the message that they were never here,” Sykes-Mosley said. “Union County sent the message that they were not important enough to recognize, like all the other students.”

Stanfield said she knows she can’t change the past, but is hopeful that going before the school board at Tuesday’s meeting will help make a change for future families.

“Just give us a little day of sunshine and help us remember them in a lovingly positive way,” Stanfield said.

Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m.