Mother unhappy with how late son will be remembered at Belleville graduation
A Fairview Heights mother has taken to social media to criticize Belleville East High School officials over how her late son will be remembered at its graduation ceremony.
Keagan Rex died in December at age 17. He was diagnosed two months earlier with epilepsy, according to his mother, Amy Morris, 40. He would have graduated on Saturday, so Morris got tickets to attend the ceremony, which will be held in the school gymnasium.
Morris wanted officials to place Keagan’s photo on an empty chair or at least read his name aloud, and perhaps do the same for other Class of 2026 students who have died.
“They deserve to be there and get respected like any other graduate,” she said in an interview Friday, fighting back tears.
Morris said Belleville Township High School District 201 Superintendent Marshaun Warren and Belleville East Principal Joe Rujawitz told her that officials would hold a moment of silence for the deceased students at the end of the ceremony and include their names in the program.
That upset Morris, who stated her case in Facebook posts beginning Wednesday. Since that time, more than a thousand people have shared them or voiced support with comments or reactions.
“That’s absolutely absurd that they won’t be mentioned,” one wrote. “Keep speaking up for him and the others ... (They) deserve to be remembered and never forgotten and we need to continue to teach the other kids/students what respect is through all circumstances of life.”
Rujawitz’s office referred calls to Warren. She confirmed Friday that Belleville East and Belleville West will handle remembrances of deceased students in the same way at graduation ceremonies.
“We will have a moment of silence for students who would have been graduating in the Class of 2026,” she said. “Additionally, those students’ names will be in the program.
“That is how it has been done for a while, and I have explained to several different parents that we want to remain consistent with that procedure.”
Morris said she knows of several other students in the Belleville East Class of 2026 who have died, but she feels uncomfortable naming them without parental permission.
One classmate, 16-year-old Hayden Chisholm, was shot eight times near Belleville Skateboard Park in October 2024 during an altercation between two groups of teenagers. He died three months later.
Nathan Treat, 18, who was friends with Keagan and Hayden, said many students and teachers were talking about Morris’s posts at a practice graduation ceremony on Friday.
“I feel like at the end of the day it should be up to the families (how the students are remembered),” he said. “If they want their kids’ names to be read, they should be read.”
District 201 officials had planned to hold one Belleville East graduation ceremony outside on the football field, but they decided to move it inside due to storms predicted for Saturday. Now three ceremonies will be held in the gymnasium, with students divided alphabetically.
Keagan died on Dec. 16, 2025, at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. His obituary with Kassly Mortuary in Fairview Heights described him as an avid gamer and technology enthusiast.
“He had a heart of gold; his presence was gentle, peaceful, and kind,” it stated. “Keagan would do anything for his mom and sister, including posing for endless pictures and attending all his sister’s events without complaint.
“His friends and family meant the world to him. He loved his family’s annual vacations, exploring new places, being outdoors, and enthusiastically joining in on all the wacky plans his mom could dream up. Keagan never met a lazy river, pool, or body of water he didn’t enjoy.”
Keagan worked at an oil-change garage in Fairview Heights. He was a good student, his mother said. After graduation, he planned to attend a trade school and become an auto mechanic.
This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 5:09 PM.
