INGLEWOOD : High School Diplomas Denied to 23 Seniors

Twenty-three Inglewood High School seniors were allowed to walk through graduation ceremonies last week but weren’t given diplomas after it was discovered they took some of their classes at an unaccredited private high school in Los Angeles.

School officials say they can’t accept the transfer credits from California Technical University High School because it isn’t accredited with the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges.

“I didn’t believe the courses were intellectually honest,” said Kenneth Crowe, Inglewood High School principal.

School officials suspected a problem only two days before graduation when they found several students with an unusually high number of transfer credits from the private school. One transcript had 50 transfer units from the student’s senior year alone in addition to Inglewood classes, Crowe said.

“When did the student have time to go take all those classes?” asked Lowell Winston, assistant superintendent of Inglewood Unified School District.

After learning that the private school was not accredited, school officials told the students they could walk through the ceremony if they agreed to make up the credits in summer school or next fall, Crowe said.

Crowe and Winston say they haven’t received any complaints from the students involved or their parents.

According to the county superintendent’s office, California Technical University High School is registered with the state Board of Education. Officials from the private school could not be reached for comment.