State Ex Rel. Barno v. Crestwood Board of Education

Nader, Presiding Judge.

In this case we are squarely confronted with the question whether a board of education may validly enact a student attendance policy that denies a high school senior her diploma solely as a consequence of absenteeism. It is an issue of first impression in Ohio, and, insofar as the procedural posture of this appeal is unique, we believe it to be an issue of first impression for the entire nation.

I

In the spring of 1997, appellant, Jennifer L. Barno, was a senior at the Maplewood Area Joint Vocational School in Ravenna, Ohio. A few days before her class was scheduled to…