DALLAS (AP) — Dallas school officials have apologized after a high school valedictorian had her graduation speech interrupted by her principal when she read the names of shooting victims Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice.
The Dallas Independent School District said in a statement Tuesday that the decision to stop Rooha Haghar’s June 1 speech wasn’t “reflective of the core values we teach our students.”
Officials said it is district practice to review student speeches and that Haghar chose “to share other remarks that were not prepared with the administration’s knowledge.”
The unscripted comments led Conrad High Principal Temesghen Asmerom to cut Haghar’s mic.
Haghar says she mentioned Tamir and Martin because their deaths are “a reality that black families have to deal with.” Officers in Cleveland shot 12-year-old Tamir in 2014. A neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida shot 17-year-old Martin in 2012. Both victims were black.