Emily Pennington, 18, desperately wanted to graduate with her class next year, but the school board wouldn’t take up her case until her parents and the community kept rallying behind her.
Emily Pennington and her mother spoke with FOX Television Stations about the journey it took for the teen to be able to graduate despite her age.Emily Pennington is an avid sports fan and a cheerleader for Billings West High School in Montana. She loves basketball, volleyball, the Utah Jazz and Tom Brady.
She and her parents feared the teen would age out of high school because of the school district’s policy, which stated that schools don’t have to enroll students who turned 19 years old on or before September 10 of the school year in question.Recently the school board changed its policy, raising the age to 20 and allowing Emily to graduate in 2023.She said graduation was so important to her because she wanted to "be with [classmates] forever."But the road to this point wasn’t smooth.
In July 2021, state lawmakers passed a bill to allow special needs children to receive education up until the age of 21, although school districts could opt-out or set their own policies.
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