Seventeen-year-old Austin Fisher is a varsity baseball player, a high school senior and by all accounts, a fantastic son. This year, he missed 16 days of school to take care of his mom, who has cancer. You’d think he’d be rewarded for doing what’s right, but instead, his Cleveland school district has informed him that he can’t walk at graduation. Why? Because technically, kids can only miss 14 days of school a year.

Now, playing by the rules is all well and good, but when it comes to a situation like this, we’re thinking it’s time to give the guy a pass and a major pat on the back. And maybe a bug bear hug. And a medal. And his diploma!

An alum from his HS is leading the charge to get the school’s officials to reverse their decision. A few days ago, she posted a petition on change.org. Right now, it has over 16,000 signatures. With your parents’ permission, we encourage GL readers to log on and make a difference. It’s quick, it’s easy and it really can make a difference in this wonderful guy’s life.

Update on April 17: Huzzah! After 90,000 people signed the Change.org petition, school officials relented--Austin is gonna walk at his graduation with the rest of his class!

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POSTED IN School, In the News