The mother of murder victim Mark Ysasaga requested Lubbock ISD to honor her son in a particular way for graduation. Anna Ysasaga-Cuevas asked LISD to set up an empty chair for Mark at the Coronado High School ceremony.
LISD said on Wednesday that a chair would not be offered in May but instead a moment of silence.
“It was an idea from his friends and the parents,” Ysasaga-Cuevas said to EverythingLubbock.com on Wednesday. “The chair is perfect. That’s all I have asked for.”
“We have to look at the bigger lens,” a spokesperson for LISD said. “It’s not just Mark.”
LISD said not every parent of a lost child would want an empty chair.
“How does it impact the student who sits next to the empty chair,” the LISD spokesperson said. “How do you balance that?”
Ysasaga-Cuevas said, “I think they should do it for all the kids, but ask the family of that child if they want it.”
Even kids who had behavioral problems but died before graduation should also be honored according to Ysasaga-Cuevas.
“It’s not the parents fault or the family’s fault,” she said.
In support of her request for Mark, Ysasaga-Cuevas mentioned the Hailey Dunn case.
The graduation ceremony at Denver City featured an empty chair covered in a graduation gown in place of Hailey. Hailey, age 13 at the time, disappeared in December of 2010. She was later found murdered.
“I think Lubbock should jump on and do this also,” Ysasaga-Cuevas.
Mark, age 15 at the time, went missing in June of 2012. A man was charged with murdering Mark and his body was found in 2015.
“That ceremony is about celebrating the students who passed that milestone,” LISD said. “It’s not as simple as it seems on the surface.”
A petition to support the family was set up on change.org.
“I think it’s important for any parent, any friend, any teacher, anyone that has lost a child you know, do be able to just have that one little moment of normalcy in all the tragedy that they’re experiencing,” said Kaci Anderson, who started the online petition.
“Their slogan is ‘Every Kid, Every Day Matters.’ I mean, if that’s what you’re going to plaster all over your buses and all over your website, and that’s going to be your motto, then you kind of need to get behind what you’re putting out there to everybody. I think they could give just a little bit, and do just a little bit more, than just a moment of silence,” Anderson added.
UPDATE: Early Wednesday evening LISD provided a written statement:
Mark Ysasaga’s death while a middle school student was tragic. Understanding that it is a difficult time for those who knew him, Coronado High School offered to do a moment of silence at graduation to honor not only Mark, but all students who have lost their lives prior to graduation. LISD must look at the broader perspective of not only Mark’s family, but of other grieving parents who have also lost their children and also the impact on graduates being honored at Commencement. Lubbock ISD communicated to the Ysasaga family on Tuesday the district’s willingness to provide a moment of silence at Commencement.