SpringfieldNewsSun.com

A Springfield student who petitioned the state to allow students who do not pass the Ohio Graduation Test to walk at commencement probably won't find help on the state level.

Kristen Davis, an Opportunities Industrialization Center student, collected about 160 signatures and sent the petition to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, along with the state and local boards of education.

"Basically, I don't think it's fair because there are honor roll students who get A's and B's and can't walk because they miss a couple points on the OGTs," Davis said.

She said she feels that the open-ended question on the test are biased and the material reviewed at school is not sufficient.

Davis said Strickland responded to her letter with a hand-signed note expressing support and saying he would forward the petition to the state board.

But the state board will stay out of the decision that, in Ohio, has been strictly made on the district level.

"The state board would not overstep its authority. It would trust the decision of individual school boards," said J.C. Benton, spokesman for the board. "Ohio prides itself on being a local-control state, and leaves many education decisions up to our 613 school districts."

The Clark-Shawnee school district is the only local district that allows seniors who did not pass a state test to walk at commencement.

The Springfield City School district will have a commencement ceremony in the fall for seniors who pass the Ohio Graduation Test this summer, said Mattie White, director of schools services for the district. Of the 87 students who are enrolled in the district's OGT summer preparation program, 32 are seniors who did not walk at graduation, but they could have that chance in mid-September.

The preparation program will give students the 10 intervention hours required to take the OGT.

"I'm not saying that the OGTs shouldn't be there, but I'm saying it shouldn't affect getting to walk at graduation," Davis said.