Can homeschooled kids walk at graduation? A Darby teen and 600 petitioners think so.

Quintin Woirhaye’s face has been displayed on a poster in the gymnasium labeling him a Darby Tiger. But Quintin hasn’t attended Darby as a student in two years.

His parents are advocating for their homeschooled son to walk in Darby school’s commencement ceremony this May. They have collected more than 600 signatures on an online petition requesting the district allow it.

But the district said the event is for Darby students only, and one Montana education expert said Montana law doesn’t allow for homeschooled kids to participate in commencement.

Darby Superintendent Tony Biesiot said families have the right to homeschool their children, and many choose that path for a variety of reasons.

“Homeschool students can and do celebrate their own graduations in ways that reflect the program they completed,” Biesiot said. “The Darby School District’s graduation ceremony, however, is designed to recognize students who completed the district’s academic program or partner programs where students remain enrolled with us.”

Parents fighting for their son to have his moment

Quintin’s parents, Jennifer and Ryan, asked the Darby School Board during their meeting last week to allow their son, who attended Darby School until the 10th grade, to walk at commencement.

“He's got a picture in the gym that says he's a Darby Tiger,” Jennifer said. “You could make a decision amongst yourself that would let this kid wear the colors, walk across the stage and get a diploma from somebody outside of this school.”

Jennifer told the board exceptions have been made before, pointing to the Trapper Creek Job Corps students who have been allowed to walk in the past. State law also requires districts to allow homeschooled kids to participate in extracurricular activities, she said.

“He has committed himself to you and has been there for you,” Jennifer said. “He's asking you to let him do one thing.”

Ryan said Quintin wears his own Darby letterman's jacket.

“I mean with our son growing up here, I graduated from Darby, it's an honor to have him also participate in that ceremony,” Ryan said.

A board member asked Ryan, if Darby meant so much, why wouldn’t they enroll him in the school?

“The math program at the time was failing, and I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Ryan said.

Biesiot confirmed the school didn’t have a math teacher during the 2023-24 school year because the district was unable to fill the position. The school supplemented instruction through the state’s online program called the Montana Digital Academy.

The district's remote location, high housing cost and an overall limited number of math teachers in the state presented recruitment challenges, Biesiot said. But these barriers are not unique to Darby.

"To put this in perspective, there are currently 21 high school math positions posted on the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s job site, highlighting the broader shortage districts are facing," he said.

Biesiot said the school has had a math teacher since the 2024-25 school year.

Jennifer told the Ravalli Republic in an interview Quintin has played basketball and track for Darby as a homeschool student since midway through his sophomore year, though he may not participate in track this year.

The online homeschooling program Quintin attends isn’t accredited, she said, and it would cost thousands to enroll him in such a program.

Darby currently offers remote online instruction through the program Harmony, as do several schools throughout the Bitterroot Valley, which gives families free access to accredited online learning and the student is still considered part of the district. But, that wasn’t an option when Quintin left Darby.

The district has a total of 312 students from kindergarten to high school. The 2026 Darby High School graduating class is 28 students.

Jennifer said her son currently has the 24 credits needed to graduate at Darby.

“There's no cost to them — It's 10 seconds of their time to say one more name and let somebody walk,” she said. “It's a small school, it's not like there's hundreds of people or hundreds of students that are graduating and it's going to take another half an hour.”

“I don't think that's fair,” she said. “Public schools are paid for by us.”

Quintin told the Ravalli Republic he’s known students in the senior class since he was in preschool and said to walk in graduation is an opportunity that only comes once.

“It would be nice to have that memory and just be able to say I walked with my classmates on graduation,” he said.

Jennifer said she’s written to Montana lawmakers in the statehouse, the congressional delegation and the Office of Public Instruction.

In correspondence shared with the Ravalli Republic, OPI lawyer Brenton Craggs told Jennifer, while he couldn’t provide legal advice, he shared a definition of extracurricular activities in state law.

He cited the legal definition for the interstate compact for military children, which describes extracurricular activities as “involvement in public performances, contests, athletic competitions, demonstrations, displays and club activities.”

“Under this definition, graduation ceremonies may qualify as extracurricular activities,” Craggs said.

Craggs said if Jennifer wanted legal advice, OPI would recommend seeking private legal counsel.

Is graduation an extracurricular event or a cocurricular event?

Biesiot said in both written communication to Jennifer and to her during the board meeting, as well as in an email to the Ravalli Republic, graduation is considered a “cocurricular activity” — meaning it’s reserved for students of the district.

“Graduation at Darby School District is considered a cocurricular event that recognizes students who have completed the district’s academic program and met the graduation requirements established by our Board of Trustees,” Biesiot said. “This decision isn’t about a specific student or family, it’s about applying district policy consistently and maintaining the integrity of the district’s diploma.”

“The board’s responsibility is to ensure that the ceremony reflects students whose academic program has been overseen and formally partnered with the district,” Biesiot said.

During the board meeting, Biesiot said in setting a precedent to allow homeschooled students to participate, a parent could theoretically take a failing student out of school, switch to homeschooling and then petition the district to have their student walk at graduation.

Executive Director of the Montana School Board Association Lance Melton echoed Biesiot’s assertion the event is cocurricular.

“...the law specifically treats graduation as a separate event, and not as an extracurricular activity,” Melton said in an email to the Ravalli Republic. “...you’d be hard pressed to claim that a graduation ceremony is an extracurricular activity under the definition.”

Melton referenced the definition of extracurricular in the school funding statute which describes it as:

(i) a sport or activity sanctioned by an organization having jurisdiction over interscholastic activities, contests, and tournaments;

(ii) an approved career and technical student organization, pursuant to 20-7-306; or

(iii) a school theater production.

Darby has a memorandum of understanding with the Montana Youth Challenge — a boarding school in Dillon — and the Trapper Creek Job Corps to allow those graduates to walk at commencement if they want.

Because of these MOUs, these students remain enrolled in the district and are required to align with the expectations of both the district and the OPI, Biesiot said.

“For students who are fully homeschooled, the district is not responsible for overseeing curriculum, awarding credits, or verifying completion of Darby’s graduation requirements,” Biesiot said. “Because of that distinction, the graduation ceremony is reserved for students whose academic program the district has formally administered or recognized through partnership agreements that are accredited through OPI.”

The district depends on student enrollment numbers for the majority of their state funding, and Biesiot said while funding is important, it’s not the primary reason homeschool students can’t participate.

“While enrollment and funding are always important considerations for any public school district, the graduation ceremony itself is fundamentally about recognizing completion of the district’s educational program,” he said. “Maintaining clear boundaries helps ensure fairness and transparency for students who have met those requirements through Darby School District and provides consistent accountability for students challenged to meet the standards the district sets.”

Biesiot also clarified the Darby Booster Club is in charge of the posters in the gym, not the district. He said both homeschooled and enrolled Seniors who meet the Montana High School Association requirements in their final year of eligibility can get a poster of themselves in the extra-curricular sport they participated in.

What next?

Jennifer’s petition has garnered more than 600 signatures from Montanans across the state, which she says feels “wonderful.”

“The reason we started is because everybody we mentioned it to said how absurd it was that they wouldn't allow it,” she said.

Biesiot told the parents their next step would be to file a complaint to the school board, but Jennifer said she doesn’t find that necessary, and wants to have a clarification of the policy.

“Where does it say that he can't, you know?” she told the Ravalli Republic.

Jennifer said she expects the issue to be on the upcoming board agenda, and Biesiot said the agenda is still being created.

Jennifer is mainly pushing for her son’s participation but would be interested in pursuing change beyond Darby, an effort Quintin supported.

“I'm not doing it just for me,” he said.

The Darby School Board is scheduled to meet next on April 13.