Thousands of high school seniors in our five-county area walked across the stages at their high schools or at a community venue to receive their diplomas last month, the culmination of 13 years of education (if you count kindergarten).

Before the ceremony itself, schools held rehearsals so what was presented to the public looked as if it were pretty well organized. In addition to giving the graduates-to-be their marching orders, school officials also told them what would be considered unacceptable behavior.

Despite the officials plea to display decorum at the ceremony, there were plenty of examples were students didn’t follow expectations and engaged in some harmless hi-jinx that brought smiles, snickers or laughs from fellow students and some audience members and scowls from fuming officials in charge of the commencement ceremony

Sometimes it was as harmless as flashing the victory sign, waving to family or doing a spontaneous two-second dance across the stage. In others, it included stupid decorations or sayings on mortarboards. Then there were the attempts to smuggle beach balls into the proceedings, which induce graduates to bat them around while the audience is attempting to enjoy the ceremony. This sends the beach patrol into action to confiscate the colorful balls.

While officials at most schools in our five-county area of Carbon, Schuylkill, Carbon, Northampton and Lehigh counties, do not go ballistic when graduates can’t follow directions or get caught up in the exuberance of the moment, there are some schools elsewhere where these actions are not tolerated, to the point where diplomas are withheld for disobedience.

Such was the case at Girls’ High in Philadelphia where officials had warned students that any audience noise would result in a student’s diploma being withheld for an indefinite period. That’s right, the school was demanding that graduating seniors keep their family members under control and not disrupt the proceedings.

Many schools precede the ceremony with an announcement to the audience to withhold applause until all of the graduates’ names are read and they march across the stage to receive their diplomas.

Officials explain that by doing this, each graduate’s moment in the sun is acknowledged by the reading of his or her name and that it is heard clearly by other graduates and members of the audience.

Of course, at virtually ever commencement that I have attended, this admonition was promptly ignored starting with the reading of the first graduate’s name, and then it almost seemed to be like a contest to see what family group could, clap, cheer and scream out well-wishes loudest when their graduate’s name was read.

Although I have never experienced air horns being used at any of the commencements that I attended, I am told that they show up, bringing angry reprimands from school officials and a hunt by security personnel to identify where these noisemakers are located. If found, offenders are escorted from the proceedings, I have been told.

Getting back to what happened at Girls’ High last month when the school found itself in the spotlight after its principal denied at least two graduates their diplomas because of their conduct on their walk to get their diplomas.

Hafsah Abdul-Rahman, 17, did what’s called a “griddy” dance popularized by athletes and video games, causing several audience members to laugh, while another student, Saleemah Burch, also 17, flipped her hair and made a gesture causing someone else in the audience to laugh.

The decision by the principal to withhold the diplomas of the two girls caused a firestorm of controversy. This prompted school officials to not only overrule the principal but fired her, saying, “The district does not condone the withholding of earned diplomas based on family members cheering for their graduates. We apologize to all the families and graduates who were impacted and are further looking into this matter to avoid it happening in the future.” The president of the school board association, Reginald Streater, went a step further, saying. “We should not let non-material antiquated norms preclude moments of inclusive joy that often follow moments of achievement/recognition.”

The school’s alumnae association tried to come to the principal’s defense, saying that it fully supported her decision. In a statement, the association said that before the start of the ceremony, the principal “clearly communicated the guidelines and regulations over and over again.”

By BRUCE FRASSINELLI| tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.