{"id":445,"date":"2017-07-12T17:55:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T17:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2017-07-12T17:55:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T17:55:18","slug":"braids-over-brains-cancer-victim-denied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=445","title":{"rendered":"BRAIDS OVER BRAINS: Cancer victim denied"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Nattoo – Staff Reporter<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When Shian Graham nestled herself at the back in the sea of graduates at Cambridge High School\u2019s recent graduation on July 5, 2017, tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Perhaps she was crying because just last October, she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and was given a 50\/50 chance to live.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps it was because at just 16 years old, she lost all her hair during chemotherapy, suffered, but managed to beat the cancer, returning to her beloved school as their Deputy Head Girl and Top Student, and on graduation, as their co-Valedictorian. The truth? Young Graham was crying because despite her accolades and extenuating circumstances, she was denied the privilege of partaking in her graduation ceremony because she opted to wear braids \u2013 an option she considered unavoidable due to her condition, but one her graduation coordinators were not willing to overlook.<\/span><\/p>\n

Graham, who was originally a student of Edwin Allen High, was transferred to Cambridge High School in January of 2015, and expressed to this reporter that she was \u201cvery excited\u201d at the prospect of being a member of the school, and \u201cappreciated it so much.\u201d And, although the youngster eventually cemented herself as one of the school\u2019s top academic performers, she initially struggled to find her footing after starting the institution in Grade 9. After comfortably settling in, however, the co-valedictorian-to-be had taken CXC Mathematics in Grade 10, earning herself a Grade 2 in that sitting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShian is brilliant,\u201d Sophia Black-Hines, Shian\u2019s mother, said when she sat down for an interview with the Western Mirror. \u201cShe would always spend time going through her school work, and would always help her little sister at nights, so much so that her sister ended up making the Principal\u2019s Honour Roll at her school,\u201d Black-Hines added of the now distraught teenager, who feels like she has been robbed of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. \u201cHonestly,\u201d Shian\u2019s mother further added, \u201cfor most of the things I\u2019ve learnt, Shian was the one who taught me \u2013 that\u2019s how good she is.\u201d Mrs. Black-Hines did not spare her emotions, alleging that the actions taken by the teacher on Shian, who was an exemplary student, seemed to have been maliciously fueled. \u201cHow else can I look at this? It was just one day, and because of her circumstances, Shian had to get her hair done that way. Why would they simply deny her like that?\u201d The disgruntled Black-Hines asked, before the interjection of Christopher Hines, Shian\u2019s (step)father.<\/span><\/p>\n

After being away from his daughter, and not getting the chance to physically be there with her as she battled through chemotherapy, Hines was scheduled for his vacation leave in April, and was anxious to come home to see her. However, Shian stopped him. \u201cDaddy, please don\u2019t take your vacation leave yet. If you take it now, you won\u2019t be able to come to my graduation in July,\u201d Hines recalls of that tough conversation he had with his daughter. And while it was difficult for him to stay away for that long, Hines honoured his daughter\u2019s wishes, and decided to wait until her graduation to take his leave. As it turns out, however, Hines\u2019 trip appears to have been in vain, as Shian, though given her certificate after the ceremony, did not get to walk across that stage for all who came to support her, especially her father.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI begged him to make that sacrifice, but all he got in return for his sacrifice was embarrassment and disappointment,\u201d the now 17-year-old related, who celebrated her birthday last month. Similar sentiments are expressed by a number of Shian\u2019s family members, who were obviously angered by what they believed to be insensitivity and a lack of proper judgment on the part of the teacher who stopped her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Shian Graham, after chemotherapy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a voice note to the teacher, one of Shian\u2019s aunts, a social worker in the USA, had this to say: \u201cWhat was your real purpose of not allowing Shian to participate? Imagine, Shian has gone through so much for the past couple of months, yet you stopped her from enjoying this one day? Well, let me tell you something \u2013 I am going to take this to the Ministry of Education because what you did to that young lady was very wrong.\u201d The voice note went on to criticize the actions of the teacher as discriminatory, and described the result as coming from an education system that lacks reasonable flexibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

In light of those allegations, the Western Mirror<\/strong> contacted the Cambridge High School, and spoke to its Principal, Mavis Hamilton.<\/span><\/p>\n

SCHOOL\u2019S REBUTTAL<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Hamilton confirmed that such events did unfold on the day in question, July 5, and that the actions taken by the graduation coordinator were in no way personally motivated, but came from a place of fairness to all students, and in respect of the school\u2019s explicitly stated rules. \u201cGraham reached the graduation ceremony late, and under those circumstances, we could have enforced the rules and require that she not be admitted to the ceremony, but we didn\u2019t.\u201d She further explained that with Graham being the school\u2019s standard bearer, it would have sent a dangerous message to girls at the ceremony who were previously reprimanded and had their extensions removed, if Graham was allowed in the ceremony as she was.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked if Graham\u2019s specific circumstances \u2013 particularly the fact that she had lost all her hair during chemotherapy \u2013 were factored into the decisions taken against her, Hamilton revealed that Graham did not seek to get permission for her extensions, and that her hair had sufficiently grown back following the months after chemotherapy. \u201cThe hair she had was more than satisfactory,\u201d Hamilton said, \u201cand had she asked permission to wear braids, perhaps we would have been better able to address this issue with as little conflict as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Principal Hamilton further added that the parents of Graham did not see themselves in the wrong, and did not express any respect for the rules the institution had set, concluding that she will always stand up for what is right, despite intimidation, not what the majority will vote for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shian Graham\u2019s family is intent on getting the matter investigated, and have threatened legal action, should justice elude them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Nattoo – Staff Reporter When Shian Graham nestled herself at the back in the sea of graduates at Cambridge High School\u2019s recent graduation on July 5, 2017, tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Perhaps she was crying because just last October, she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and was given a 50\/50 chance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[58,57,59,30],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-feature","category-news","tag-cambridge-high-school","tag-cancer","tag-ministry-of-education","tag-western-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}