Student With Cancer OKd to Graduate

A high school senior with an inoperable brain tumor, who was banned from graduation by his principal, will be allowed to attend after all, his lawyer said Friday.

Reginald Brown, principal of George Washington High School on the city’s southeast side, had said that Jim Stan’s presence at the June 14 commencement would be an interruption.

“One thing you have to think about is that we have 240 other (graduating students) in the audience,” Brown had said. “This is a 400-pound lad, and they’re going to wheel him up?”

Charles Pulliam, a lawyer consulted by the Stan family, later said he was told Stan will be allowed to participate in commencement after all, to the extent his is medically able to do so.

“He’s euphoric about being able to attend,” Pulliam said. “It takes a lot of pressure off him and his family.”

Stan, who uses a wheelchair, has been tutored at home since he was a junior, when doctors discovered the tumor and gave him six months to live, said his mother, Mary Ann.

She said her son has gained weight because of medication he takes for his cancer. She put his weight at 250, but Stan’s nurse estimated it at 400.

Mary Ann Stan said the principal “is new and he doesn’t know my son or anything. Really, it’s a shame that it had to come down to this.

“I hope he doesn’t have any hard feelings over this,” she said. “I don’t and I hope he doesn’t.”

Brown could not be reached for comment.

Stan’s nurse, Doris Johnson, said his poor health would prohibit him from staying for the entire ceremony. She said he hopes to attend at least long enough to get his diploma.

The thought of attending graduation has kept Stan going and he was devastated by Brown’s decision, Johnson said.

His mother agreed. “This is what the kid has been living for all this time.