School Climate & Safety

The Lost Graduate: Remembering a Student Gunned Down at School

An empty chair. A moment of silence. The poignant gestures to remember students who should have graduated this spring
By Catherine Gewertz — June 13, 2022 3 min read
61322 Graduation Cap Florida BS 7
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

It’s been two and a half years since Jonathon Parker was fatally shot in the parking lot of his California high school. For his family, the pain comes in waves, and it’s spiking again now, as his classmates graduate.

“We see everyone getting ready for their prom, for graduation, all the senior festivities, and it just breaks our hearts,” said Aurora Solorio, Jonathon’s aunt.

Fused with the pain of his loss is fear that he’ll be forgotten. Solorio worked hard to ensure that Jonathon has a place in the graduating class at Deer Valley High in Antioch. The folding chair that would have held the tall boy with the streaming black hair instead held a photo of him adorned with a pair of angel wings. Solorio made sure the yearbook included photos of him. She bought a cap and gown, in his school colors of teal and black, on Amazon.

For families who have lost children, any milestone brings renewed waves of grief. Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, end-of-school-year rituals and celebrations. School shooting incidents have taken the lives of two dozen children this year alone, EdWeek’s school shooting tracker shows.

Graduation ceremonies have marked the absence of some of those young people.

At Oxford High School, in Oxford, Mich., attendees at the May 19 commencement observed a moment of silence for 2022 class members Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and two younger students, who died when a fellow student shot them at the school on Nov. 30, 2021.

From left: Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Jonathon Parker

Other chairs around the country are empty at graduations this year, too, because of gun violence. And with dozens of younger children fallen to school shootings, there will be many more empty chairs at graduations for years to come. Each one marks an epidemic the country struggles to understand and address.

A chair for ‘Jon-Jon’

On the football field at Deer Valley High, where commencement took place June 10, a fabric seat cover was stretched over the metal folding chair where Jonathon would have sat had a 15-year-old student not shot him fatally outside a basketball game at his school on Jan. 30, 2020. A family friend had photoshopped the seat cover to include a graduation cap.

When Deer Valley High officials announced Jonathon’s name, his mother, Alizcia Gurule, came down from the bleachers to accept an honorary diploma for him. Solorio said it was such an emotionally wrenching day that she wasn’t certain her sister would be able to complete the walk to the stage and back.

Solorio wants Jonathon remembered fully: for his kindness, for the big, teddy-bearish presence the 6-foot-4 teenager brought into a room. For the way he loved to spend weekend nights at home with his mom or his dad.

61322 Graduation Cap Florida BS 1

The family has kept his memory alive with a string of giving-back events in his honor. They raised $500 this year for a scholarship in his name. Last Thanksgiving, they fed 20 families. At Christmas, they “adopt” a family and give them gifts. On Jonathon’s 18th birthday, they had a shoe drive and donated the shoes to needy families.

‘An uphill battle’ to commemorate slain teenager

But it was “an uphill battle” to ensure that his high school acknowledged his place in the graduating class of 2022, Solorio said.

She asked school officials to provide information about ordering a cap and gown—a key element of a “memory box” she wanted to make for her sister—but by the time she got it, the deadline had passed, Solorio said. Instead, she ordered them on Amazon. She asked if the family could display a picture of Jonathon on stage, but that request was turned down, she said.

Deer Valley High Principal Bukky Oyebade noted in an email to Education Week that the school paid tribute to Jonathon in its 2020 yearbook, and delivered that edition, free of charge, to the family’s home. It also erected a plaque in his memory near the library, she said. This year’s yearbook features a tribute to Jonathon, as well, and the school awarded him a posthumous diploma, she said.

“In recognition that this is an emotional time for Jonathon’s family, it is Deer Valley’s sincere intent to honor Jonathon,” the principal’s email said.

Still, Solorio said, she wishes the school had initiated this year’s remembrances of her nephew. “They never reached out to us, saying we want to remember Jonathon,” she said. “That hurts.”

61322 Graduation Cap Florida BS 8

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Researchers Analyzed Years of Reports to a School Safety Tipline. Here's What They Learned
More than a third of gun-related tips in one state outlined possible school attacks, a new analysis finds.
4 min read
Illustration of a cellphone with a red exclamation mark inside of a word bubble.
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety Could Panic Buttons Save Lives in a School Shooting? More Schools Think So
There's legislative momentum to require panic alarm systems in schools. But many districts are installing the systems without a mandate.
6 min read
Visitors walk past a makeshift memorial honoring those recently killed at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. A Texas lawmaker says surveillance video from the school hallway where police waited as a gunman opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom will be shown this weekend to residents of Uvalde.
Visitors walk past a makeshift memorial on July 12, 2022, honoring those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in a May 2022 school shooting. Nearly a year after the Uvalde shooting, lawmakers in Texas passed a bill requiring that every public school classroom have a panic alarm system.
Eric Gay/AP
School Climate & Safety Opinion How to Strengthen the Safety and Security of Your School
Resources, guidance, and best practices can help leaders feel ready and empowered to improve their school’s safety and security.
Lindsay Burton & Michelle Kefford
6 min read
Illustration about warnings, with a businessman and woman each holding a with megaphone in front of a caution symbol.
Nuthawut Somsuk/iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety 'Cascade of Failures' in Response to Uvalde School Shooting, Investigation Finds
The long-awaited federal review emphasized law enforcement failures, but also noted lapses in the district's safety policies.
6 min read
Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, left, tour murals of shooting victims on Jan. 17, 2024, in Uvalde, Texas.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, right, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, left, tour murals of shooting victims on Jan. 17, 2024, in Uvalde, Texas. Details of the U.S. Department of Justice Department's long-awaited investigation into the tragedy were released Jan. 18.
Eric Gay/AP