CMS says it won’t allow father to walk across stage to accept son’s diploma

CHARLOTTE — Next week, students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District will be graduating. Unfortunately, this moment will be bittersweet for one family.

Nahzir Taylor was scheduled to graduate in March, but he was shot and killed as he got off a school bus in November.

Channel 9′s Glenn Counts spoke with Nahzir’s family, who said a communications error has added to their pain.

Graduation is a momentous occasion for any student, as well as for the family who supports them.

“I told him you’re not grown until you graduate high school, so us accepting his diploma is going to mean the world,” Nahzir’s mother Shetara Taylor said.

Keon Taylor, Nazhir’s father, said the family had planned to attend his graduation at Rocky River High School and accept their son’s diploma on his behalf.

“So, then we asked ‘What can we do? What can we be allowed to do?’ And then told us we could walk the stage” Shetara Taylor explained.

However, before that could occur they received a phone call from the school saying there was a mix-up in communication and Keon Taylor would not be able to walk across the stage for his son.

“We are very angry. We are very upset ... we are very upset. Me walking the stage for him, is not only walking the stage for him, but it’s walking the stage for myself and for both of us,” Keon Taylor told Channel 9.

The Taylors said this doesn’t just affect their immediate family, but their extended family as well.

“Because a lot of family and friends are coming we got t-shirts made. We got so much stuff to celebrate him,” Shetara Taylor explained said.

Channel 9 reached out to the school district and a CMS spokesperson told us that their schools do honor deceased students during the ceremony.

They are honored with an empty chair with the graduate’s cap, gown, and a shadow box filled with memorabilia.

The district said that’s their longstanding practice but is not a policy.

“I’m never going to be able to hug my son again. And for me, to already be dealing with that, and to keep having to deal with mistake, after mistake, after mistake. It’s almost starting to become a slap in the face,” Keon Taylor said.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said two teenagers have been charged in connection with the shooting death of Nahzir Taylor.

VIDEO: CMPD: Second teen charged in student’s shooting near CMS bus stop

CMPD: Second teen charged in student’s shooting near CMS bus stop

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