FMS Families and Staff,
Farmington Municipal Schools and Farmington High School would like to apologize to the community, the student, and her family, for the events at graduation involving the Native American regalia. The intent, always, is to create a ceremony that is inclusive of all graduates and honors all of our students. It is clear that what occurred detracted from that and had the opposite effect. We are confident that our staff intended no disrespect or to violate anyone’s cultural beliefs or practices. In a community like ours, we need to have a new conversation about meaningful ways to best celebrate all of our graduates.
To learn from this experience and to improve our school community, we will continue to collaborate with groups within the Navajo Nation and other community stakeholders to begin the healing process and figure out the best ways to move forward. We are committed to learning from this experience and improving our school communities now and in the future.
Cody Diehl, Superintendent of Farmington Municipal Schools
Rocky Torres, Principal of Farmington High School