By Megan Wehring

HAYS CISD — After receiving the news that many senior events will not go on this year, some parents took their comments directly to the Hays CISD Board of Trustees on Monday night.

The Board allots approximately 30 minutes total at each meeting for public comments about school district operations, according to the policies on the Hays CISD website. Each speaker will be limited to five minutes unless the time is decreased at the beginning of the public comments period to accommodate the number of speakers.

Yvonne Espinoza, mother of twin seniors at Lehman High School (LHS), was the first to speak against cancelling senior activities.

“I’m not just speaking for myself but for a large number of senior parents across the district when I say that we are saddened and puzzled by the cancelling of some senior events,” Espinoza said. “These are students who have done all that the district, teachers, administrators and community has asked of them.”

Espinoza added that the seniors have upheld their end of the bargain and the district should do the same by giving them the recognition they deserve.

There needs to be a level of fairness, mother and business owner Kimberly Fitzgerald said.

“The kids have suffered enough,” Fitzgerald said. “But we have supporting events in full swing. Football, basketball, powerlifting and wrestling. These are all accommodated for.”

Jan Adams, mother of a LHS junior, agreed that it is not clear what is allowed and what is not allowed for events.

“When the band was supposed to only go to home games, why was Johnson allowed to go to an away game just because the stadium is in their backyard,” Adams questioned. “An away game was no and a home game was yes but yet they were allowed. You are very biased on all of your schools.”

Fitzgerald hopes that the district would go back to the drawing board and allow seniors to have something to look forward to. She also suggested that in-person graduation ceremonies could be split up alphabetically to allow more families to attend.

“I wish you would go back to the table,” Fitzgerald said. “Take some reconsideration of this. These kids have lost so much and I’m here to speak on behalf of all three high schools that have seniors.”

Board President Esperanza Orosco said these parents will be contacted by Superintendent Dr. Wright and his administrative team this week about their concerns.