“I was kicked out for one reason. I truly love you and this community,” Principal Ben Nakamura of Stagg High School in Stockton, California said during his speech.
A high school principal was kicked out of a graduation ceremony for what he told his students. “I was kicked out for one reason. I truly love you and this community,” Principal Ben Nakamura of Stagg High School in Stockton, California said during his speech.
Nakamura revealed in the speech that he found out he was fired days earlier after the board of trustees voted to remove him. Moments later, security escorted him off the campus.
“I wasn’t using this as an opportunity to grandstand or share my personal grievances, but rather to let the community know and to reaffirm to them the level of love and commitment I’ve made,” Nakamura told Inside Edition.
Parents and students defended Nakamura’s speech.
“Definitely not what I was expecting to hear,” a student told Inside Edition. “I did enjoy the speech.”
Inside Edition spoke to district spokeswoman Melinda Meza.
“Talking with parents who did have concerns about it, they said, you know, if he would have took to social media, they would have supported him. They actually like him a lot. But they say this graduation really took away from the students to talk about his personal grievances,” Meza said.
