A small Christian school in western Maryland is not backing down from its decision to ban a pregnant senior from walking at graduation next week.
Despite a public outcry and growing pressure from national antiabortion groups to reconsider, Heritage Academy in Hagerstown, Maryland, says that senior Maddi Runkles broke the school’s rules by engaging in intimate sexual activity.
In a letter to parents Tuesday evening, school principal David Hobbs said that Runkles is being disciplined, “not because she is pregnant but because she was immoral. … The best way to love her right now is to hold her accountable for her morality that began this situation.”
Runkles, 18, is a 4.0 student who has attended the school since 2009. She found out she was pregnant in January and informed the school, where her father was then a board member, in February. Initially the school told Runkles that she would be suspended and removed from her role as student council president and would have to finish the rest of the school year at home.
After the family appealed, Heritage said it would allow Runkles to finish the school year with her 14 classmates but she would not be able to walk with the other seniors to receive her diploma at graduation. The family believes that the decision is unfair and that she is being punished more harshly than others who have broken the rules.
“It’s because I’m pregnant and you can see the results of my mistake,” Runkles said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “There have been kids who have broken the student code and they could have hurt people or even gone to jail and they only received an in-school suspension and they’re allowed to walk this year. The school is worried about its reputation, but I think they’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to set an example for the pro-life community and Christian schools about how to treat guys and girls like me.”
The baby’s father is out of high school and did not attend Heritage.
To Hobbs, a long-time educator completing his first year as the school’s principal, the decision to not allow Runkles to take part in graduation resulted from her actions. He thinks she needs to be held responsible and believes the penalty will be instructive to other students.
“The breach of a standard of abstinence is a grievous choice,” he said in an interview. “Maddi made a grievous choice. We do believe in forgiveness, but forgiveness does not mean there’s no accountability.”
Hobbs said Heritage, which opened in 1969 and has 175 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, emphasizes abstinence and tells students to “maintain their purity until their wedding night.”
“We teach our students about the beauty of marriage and that sex inside of marriage is one of the things that is beautiful about marriage,” he said.
But while the school reaffirmed its decision, antiabortion groups have rallied to support Runkles. They argue that by singling out a pregnant student, the school is making it more likely that young women will choose abortion rather than suffer embarrassment and punishment.
“It’s a bad decision,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life. “I was horrified when I learned that they wouldn’t let her walk at graduation. Usually when a woman is facing an unwanted pregnancy, especially a young woman, there is a sense of shame that comes into play and can have an impact on her decision and often does.”
Mancini said that while she respects the school’s code of conduct she worries about what the next pregnant student will do.
“What she needs is support, and what the school is doing is really the opposite of that,” she said. “It’s the antithesis of what it means to be Christian.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, also criticized the school. “By banning her and her alone, the administration and board collectively decided to make a public example of one student and has either intentionally or unintentionally communicated to the school community that pregnancy (not simply premarital sex) is a shame and should not be observed within our school community,” she said in a statement.
Runkles said her situation has drawn so much media attention in the past week, with her story being told by the New York Times, CBS and Fox, that some friends and classmates who once supported her now think she is just seeking publicity. The backlash has been severe, especially on social media, where she says strangers, acquaintances and parents of other students have attacked her.
“It has really gotten out of control,” Runkles said. “Moms of students have tagged me and said nasty things about me. I’ve had students start group messages to start nasty rumors. People saying I’m just attention-seeking and spoiled.”
The blowback led Runkles’ parents to pull Maddi and her 9th-grade brother out of the school for the remainder of the year. Her father, Scott Runkles, has resigned from the school’s board and her brother will transfer to another Christian school in the fall.
While she feels that her experience at Heritage has been ruined, Runkles says she is grateful for the support from her family and the Baptist church she belongs to in Frederick. She has also become involved in antiabortion activism, taking part in rallies and speaking out against federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
“I chose life and sometimes it feels like it wasn’t worth it, but then it’s been kind of a blessing because I have a big platform to help other people,” she said.
Runkles, who has been accepted to Bob Jones University, a Christian school in South Carolina, doesn’t believe Heritage will change its mind about letting her walk at graduation June 2, but she said that if it does, she will take part.
“I would love to attend because my best friends will be there and I want to share that with them,” she said. “Some people are upset because they think I’m out to get the school, but I’m not. I just want them to do the right thing.”
Still, Runkles isn’t holding her breath waiting for the school to reconsider. And she has other things on her mind. Her baby boy is due Sept. 4.
How is one to comment on this one? Is this the first time this has happened at that school? If not, they should have devised a more reasonable plan to deal with the consequences. If there is a “contract” with consequences? Maybe a large financial fine would be more appropriate, as a deterrent.
As a religious school, the policy and should be abstinence. Otherwise,
look somewhere else for an education. Us being human dont always use good judgment, I’m here to testify about that.
When I was young I chose a different path other than what my parents and relatives had in mind. I paid a heavy price. I did paid it, I was happy to do so.
I now have a very large family that means the world to me. I should have and would have, with a better judgmental hindsight, done things differently, but that decision would stand, with absolutely no doubt, whatsoever.
I would really like to hear someone else viewpoint, and experiences, on this issue. Abortion has no place in this discussion, that issue should be reserved for another discussion. Please look at this as “you danced, now you have to pay the fiddler” situation. I was told that once by someone with great wisdom ,EARNED through a long hard life.
Simple and true, but rarely advised in these modern times.
Please give a response if you will.
It does one good to assess others viewpoints, think about changes, if any are due. Thanks, Bob
Im pretty sure she knew the rules ,and with a 4.0 im sure she comprehended them very well , she just wants special treatment because she believes shes special
and just like many Liberals they believe that rules dont apply to them
hope you like your lesson , and sick of people playing the victim when clearly they just want their way, outside of what they were told was expected
this isn’t an”unwanted pregnancy” this is irresponsibility coming back to bite her in the ass
That sounds like good clear thinking to me. EotS.
I think you are right on the money. It’s a bad idea to make excuses or bend the rules because somebody’s feelings got hurt or when something appears unjust.
Rules can be changed, but not to offset any particular penalty.
The rest of the argument in this story is pure nonsense. She was immoral or people in her position are more likely to have an abortion if they are not handled with soft fuzzy pillows. As you said, the rules were broken and that is the only story here.
They didn’t say she wasn’t getting her diploma, just that she couldn’t walk up like the others who did follow the rules.
Great reply, thanks
I’m not particularly religious, nor do I belong to any denomination, so I may not be the best person to comment on this article.
But I will give it a go anyway.
Religion is a powerful force. Just like any powerful force, it can be used for good or bad. I see a lot of good in Christianity but I also have read about a lot of bad in it’s application. The upper echelons of the religious sects seem to be bent on using their influence as a means of control as opposed to using it for a message of peace and forgiveness.
I thought that’s what Christianity was all about. Peace and forgiveness.
I would ask the principal and the school board if it is their sole authority to act as judges in this matter or should they all just pray for forgiveness and let God handle it.
And if one of them screwed up, from whence would forgiveness come for them if not from God?
I seem to remember reading in the Bible (and please forgive me if I’m getting this wrong. It was a long time ago when I read it) that one of Gods first commandments to Adam and Eve was to “be fruitful, and multiply.”
God didn’t say anything about getting married first or waiting until after High School. All these rules came later and were created by man.
I would ask the school principle and the school board exactly how one of God’s commandments is immoral.
If I were Ms. Runckles (and I’m definitely not) I’d pray to God and ask Him to forgive the school board and the principal and the people who are hating and ask Him to guide them back to forgiveness.
And then let God handle it.
If the Christian school’s rules are in conflict with one of God’s commandments, then can it be called a Christian school?
wouldn’t that make it just another regular old school at that point?
Hello TC. You sound religiously knowledgable to me. I have no problem with that. Do you think it would be possible to agree with the conclusion in the above replies? That broken rules and the consequence are the only issue here?
Thanks for your reply, Bob
I wouldn’t call myself religiously knowledgeable just because I read the Bible 30 years ago. LOL.
It seems to me that the rule shouldn’t even be there. The school board and the principal are wrong twice over.
They can’t co-mingle God’s word and men’s rules.
That’s when God’s message gets muddied and lost.
The rule is in direct conflict with God’s word.
The girl hasn’t harmed anyone or stolen and destroyed anyone’s property.
As Misty pointed out, she has a 4.0 grade average which she earned.
so what’s the punishment for?
In some corners of the world, her pregnancy would be celebrated. Life begetting life.
But for some reason, here in the supposed “land of the free”, she gets shunned and denigrated.
It’s a crazy nation.
This is why we cannot endure a theocracy, as the self-righteous will always dismiss logic and the Bill of Rights when they come into contact with their individual self-righteous, holier-than-thou, I-know-better-than-thee interpretations.
In short, if they had the power they would not hesitate in judging God and telling Him He was wrong. 🙂
Thanks Henry.
I was just about to inquire of someone else where the anti-pregnancy graduation “rule” was in the Bill of Rights.
Guess she’s immoral according to the school? To not let her walk to get her diploma on a 4.0….who are you to judge? Christians or non? If she earned it she earned it!
Exactly Misty. Jesus said “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. John 8:7 (KJV). Jesus hated religion.
Misty and Paul. I was kind of thinking along those lines. This is a tough one for me. Religion seems to confuse people more than bring them together.
” Religion seems to confuse people more than bring them together.”
Indeed, it does and has for centuries.
religions as well as governments were designed to achieve the same thing….control the masses
You’re absolutely correct, mary in ND.
WHY NOT GO AHEAD AND STONE HER TO DEATH?… DAMNED HYPOCRITS!!!!!!!!!