Family presses Belleville school board on differing honors for deceased seniors

A grieving family attended Monday’s Belleville Township High School District 201 school board meeting to ask why their loved one was not honored at graduation in the same way another deceased student was at the other high school.

Keagan Rex, a senior at Belleville East High School, died in December from complications of epilepsy at age 17. He would have graduated Saturday, as would Belleville West senior Dalton Vonderheide, who died in the fall in a car accident.

Both schools held multiple ceremonies that included a moment of silence to honor lost classmates. At what would have been his graduation ceremony, Vonderheide’s name was called and a loved one went on stage to receive his diploma. Rex was not recognized by name, nor was his diploma presented publicly to his family at his ceremony.

Rex’s name was included in the program, but it was misspelled, his mother, Amy Morris, told the board.

“I was truly happy that the family from Belleville West received recognition for their child at graduation. I think this was a beautiful thing to do,” Morris said at Monday’s meeting. “However, I am asking why I was denied the same respect for my son.”

District 201 Superintendent Marshaun Warren said she could not comment on the discrepancy, citing “student privacy.”

Morris said administrators previously told her her son’s name would not be called at graduation and an empty chair would not be reserved for him. Instead, she said, they told her they would hold a moment of silence for students who died and include their names in the program — something Warren reiterated to the BND late last week.

Morris took to Facebook on Wednesday to voice her dissatisfaction. Her initial post drew thousands of reactions, with hundreds of people sharing it or commenting.

Warren told the BND on Friday that Belleville East and Belleville West traditionally have held a moment of silence for students who would have been graduating and listed their names in programs handed to attendees.

“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,” she told the BND on Friday.

After Monday’s meeting, Warren said it was her understanding that a moment of silence for deceased graduating students was the tradition at both schools. She said she did not know whether students’ names were recognized during that moment of silence in the past.

Morris also told the board Belleville East Principal Joe Rujawitz told her he would say Rex’s name. Rujawitz directed questions to Warren at Monday’s meeting.

Warren said she needed to follow up with the family, noting they asked Monday evening for a meeting with her, Rujawitz and board President Mike Eiskant.

“It’s a priority to meet with this family,” Warren said.