‘They discriminated against him’: Texas elementary school excludes 6yo Hispanic student from graduation, he had to watch through the door

A six-year-old student at a Texas elementary school was forced to watch his fellow classmates graduate without him after the school decided to keep him separate for no apparent reason. Footage of Rigoberto Contreras sitting on the other side of a glass door, watching as his friends celebrate has caused outrage online.

The school allegedly forced Rigoberto and his family to sit in the empty library while the graduation proceeded in the school’s auditorium. The young boy can be seen wearing his little graduation cap and gown, leaning against the window and shouting, “My friends! My friends!” from the other side of the door. 

It is evident from the boy’s body language that he is upset, even with his face blurred that much is clear. But why did the school staff feel the need to exclude the young Rigoberto from such a significant event? And why only him? Well, according to his parents, there was no good reason. They were only allowed into the school at 9 a.m., while the rest of the students arrived at 7 a.m.

Why was Rigoberto Contreras excluded?

The story comes from the Michael S. Ryan Elementary located in Laredo, Texas. The video was actually recorded by Rigoberto’s father and later shared online by his aunt to raise awareness about the situation. The video has prompted responses from the Laredo Independent School District as per LMTOnline.

Rigoberto’s mother explained that her son had been diagnosed with “global developmental delay” which is known to cause speech impairments and hyperactivity among other things. However, he did not need to be enrolled in special needs education. It’s hard to imagine his hyperactivity being a legitimate reason to exclude him from the graduation and Rigoberto’s parents certainly don’t think it’s a justifiable reason either.

The young boy’s mother described her feelings after seeing her son be left out. “It broke our hearts to see that he wasn’t with his little friends.” The mother claims that the school staff “discriminated against him.” She admits that discrimination is a “strong word,” but goes on to say that “he didn’t give them a reason to exclude him that day.”

The boy’s aunt clarified that the parents had been given the choice to either have their son participate in the event later in the ceremony or not participate at all. They were told to arrive at 9 a.m. but the arrangement forced Rigoberto to miss out on breakfast activities with his classmates. Ultimately they were held separately for 20 minutes and weren’t able to participate fully in the event so it’s understandable why many view this as exclusionary and discriminatory.