Paso High to allow grad cap decorations after students lobby the district 

Attendees of the 2023 Paso Robles High School graduation ceremony might spot some new colors sparkling amid the sea of red caps and gowns.

Thanks to a petition pushed by a group of students that garnered more than 1,000 signatures, students will be able to decorate the top of their caps—and only their caps—for the graduation ceremony after the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board voted 5-2 in favor of the policy change at the May 9 meeting.

• Photo Courtesy Of Paso Robles High School
• EXCITED TO EXPRESS Thanks to student activism, Paso Robles High School graduates will now be able to decorate the top of their caps, as long as they meet school standards.

"From the beginning of freshman year, I have always wondered what it would be like to walk across the stage with a decorated cap to honor my mother and her struggles as a single mom raising me," Ne'jai Bryant said at the meeting. "I feel expressing that thanks I have for her at my graduation through my cap is one of the best ways to show that."

Bryant is one of five students—the others being Vanessa Pinedo, Israel Perez, Jordan Armer, and Paula Uribe—who gave a presentation on the policy change and cited the expression they felt the revision should allow for.

The group highlighted four themes students might incorporate into cap decor: honoring one's family accomplishment, remembering loved ones who may have passed, future aspirations, and most controversially—at least to some members of the board—activism.

"Graduation is not the time for activism," board trustee Dorian Baker said at the meeting. "I would be willing to approve it if we left out the activism part and focused on the first three points the students made."

Other members of the board also found an issue with the loose definition of the term, with trustee Kenney Enney highlighting just how hard it would be to enforce a term that may not have a universal definition.

"Everyone has a different definition of what these things mean," Enney said. "I am inclined to vote no because it is not well defined and that means that it is left to interpretation."

Despite this, a majority of the board determined that defining activism would entail an entire process that could lead to the board facing challenges regarding students' First Amendment rights.

"The way that it is written right now is fine and passes legal means," board member Jim Cogan said. "If we start defining what is and isn't activism to prohibit what is allowed on a cap, that's where the issue begins."

Cogan stressed that the era of formal graduations, while important, had passed as the district and California enter a new era of personal freedoms.

"I am struck by the irony of this situation where we are talking about the definition of activism when the entire reason we are here is that these students showed up and were activists about a cause they believed in," Cogan said. "If we are going to be a school board that supports personal freedom, activism is part of it."

According to Paso Robles High School Principal Anthony Overton, who finalized the new policy in a statement to parents, students will have to fill out a form with their proposed cap design and have it signed by their parents or guardian by June 2. Seniors will then provide the approved form with its matching cap design during the actual ceremony on June 9.

"We believe this policy will help ensure that this new tradition can live into future generations of Bearcat graduates," Overton said in a statement. "It will help ensure that any issues that arise can be resolved long before the graduation ceremony."

During the entire discussion and after passing the policy change, school board members praised the students for their passion and dedication to voicing their desires. However, board President Nathan Williams made it clear that now that the policy change had been made, students need to use their cap decorating privileges responsibly.

"Whatever you choose to do, it will set precedents for every year that comes after you," Williams said. "Hold onto that as you are designing your caps and show that same maturity you did tonight in presenting this." Δ