Attleboro Students Voice Their Opinions on Mayor Attending Graduation

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

Seniors are gearing up for graduation night at Attleboro high school. But some students have made it clear they don’t want the city’s mayor, Kevin Dumas in attendance.

"having him there will take away from the seniors day," says Senior Rose Davies.

Davies voiced her opinion over the phone Friday. She says many students don’t want him to attend, because of recent school system budget cuts which will lead to teacher layoffs and larger classrooms sizes.

"I have two little siblings and now they’re kind of left with the burden of having to sit in classroom sizes of 30+ children. That doesn’t really sit well with me," adds Davies.

To see how many students felt the same about the mayor attending graduation, she took an informal poll on her twitter page this week.
100 people voted in total, and 66% said they did not want him there. School committee chair Stephen Withers says despite the talk mayor Dumas’ invitation will not be taken back.
 
"We admire their involvement and their passion, but we don’t think graduation is the time to be making a political stance," says Withers.
 
Withers says there will most likely still be cuts come September, but that number has been almost cutting half as the school’s budget shortfall has gone to $1.3 million.

"Through additional funds that are coming to the school and through cuts that we’ve made elsewhere. That number is down to about 46, 36 of which are teachers," Withers says.

(c)WLNE-TV 2016