Destiny Brannon was the class valedictorian of the DeSoto High School - but she was stripped of her title after giving a critical speech at graduation.
Destiny graduated on May 31, during which she criticized the school - for valuing ATHLETICS over EDUCATION. Then the school got their revenge.
On June 12, a week after she attended freshman orientation for the University Of Texas, the school TOOK BACK her Valedictorian title. In addition to her title, she lost her $25K/year scholarship that Texas grants all the high school valedictorians.
The school claims that it miscalculate the rankings based on fall semester grades instead of spring.
The school has apologized to Brannon's family and the new valedictorian Brian Uzuegbunam's family.
The district says it is 'working with them to ensure the two students will still be able to pursue their intended pathways and that we, as a district, are working diligently to address deficiencies such as this and others that are detracting from our ability to offer quality educational experiences.'
The family set up a GoFundMe page - to get her scholarship back
Brannon’s mom Samantha Johnson-Brannon, who works as a secretary in the counselor’s office at DeSoto High School, said she thinks it was a ploy to punish her daughter for making the graduation speech about “subpar teachers who honestly weren’t there to benefit the needs of DeSoto students.”
It’s embarrassing, because I got so much publicity from them on being valedictorian, only to be told that’s a mistake,” Destiny said.
While DeSoto ISD officials blame the mistake on a grade calculation hiccup, Brannon’s parents argue that they purposely changed her rank because of the criticism, the Dallas News reports.
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