Orange County scholar, football player clears last hurdle to crossing graduation stage

An Orange County student who overcame his disabilities to succeed at sports, academics and in service to his community will cross the stage with his twin brother and friends in June, his mother said.

Orange County Schools Superintendent Danielle Jones called Ellen Sorrells on Thursday afternoon with a “compromise” that will let her son, Partnership Academy senior Jaylan Sorrells, participate in Orange High School’s June 7 commencement ceremony, Ellen Sorrells said.

The announcement comes after Jaylan’s friends and community members launched a petition, held rallies and flooded the district with emails, social media posts and phone calls advocating for the 18-year-old student.

Sorrells said she is waiting to get the agreement in writing, but it will allow Jaylan to sit with his brother, Nate, walk across the stage and be recognized as a Partnership Academy graduate who has also been “an integral part of Orange High School.”

“This is all we wanted,” Sorrells said.

What led to the agreement?

Jaylan is enrolled at Partnership Academy, an alternative school in Hillsborough from which he will receive a diploma. But for the last four years, he has spent a half-day at Partnership before being bused to Orange High School for more classes, sports and activities.

Over 2,300 people signed a petition asking the district to let him cross the stage with other Orange High School graduates on June 7. Rallies were held at the school on Wednesday and at the district office Thursday morning.

They were not asking for him to receive a diploma from both schools, Ellen Sorrells told Jones and the school board in an email Monday.

“We’re proud of him going to Partnership. He’s proud of going to Partnership,” Sorrells told The News & Observer in a phone interview Thursday. “We would not be where we are without Partnership and Orange. They both together molded him into the kid that he is.”

She told a board member separately that the district should ensure future students don’t face the same situation, Sorrells said.

Who is Orange County student Jaylan Sorrells?

Sorrells and her husband, Wesley Sorrells, became foster parents to Jaylan and his twin brother, Nate, when they were 14 months old. Jaylan, now 18, has a sensory processing disorder, high-functioning autism and ADHD, all of which led to childhood behavioral issues and got him kicked out of pre-K, she said.

“There used to be us getting phone calls all the time — come get your son, or he’s acting up. I would have days where I would go sit in class, and I would go to every single class with him,” Sorrells said.

They have since adopted the boys, and in eighth grade, they took the advice of Jaylan’s middle school principal and enrolled him in Partnership Academy, an alternative school that was able to give him more support, she said.

At Partnership and through therapy, Jaylan proved he could succeed, allowing him to transition to a half-day of classes at Orange High School, she said. Last year, he was named an OCS Youth Poet Laureate, earning him a trip to the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh.

In the last four years, Jaylan has taken 10 of the 22 classes required to graduate at Orange High and the rest at Partnership, earning a nearly 3.9 grade-point average, Sorrells said. He’s been a volunteer at Orange High, painting lines on the football field before home games and helping with summer youth football camps and fundraisers. He will attend the high school’s prom Saturday.

He’s also been a top athlete, running track for three years, winning multiple awards and being named team captain this year, and at 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, playing three different defensive positions and making 45 tackles for Orange High’s 2023-24 varsity football team, according to his Hudl player profile. He was All Conference two years in a row and was team captain this year, Sorrells said.

At their recent signing day at Orange High, Jaylan and Nate became the fourth generation of their adoptive family to commit to Mars Hill University and its football team. The Panthers posted their photos on the athletics department’s Instagram page.

That was the day Partnership Academy’s principal said Jaylan couldn’t walk with his friends across Orange High’s stage, Sorrells said.

It’s amazing how people are supporting him, Jaylan told The N&O in a phone interview before school Thursday.

“Being able to walk across that stage would be like releasing a burden, like yes, I can do this, and it would be great because I would be walking with my brother and people I’ve grown up with the past 12 or 13 years in school,” he said.

What do district, state officials say?

Sorrells provided The N&O with emails from Jones initially denying the request to let Jaylan participate in Orange High’s graduation and advising Sorrells that her family could appeal the decision.

The district is “certainly proud of all of his accomplishments,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, Jaylan is officially enrolled at Partnership Academy and has been for the last 4 years.”

Corrie Byrd, an N.C. Department of Public Instruction spokesperson, said DPI and the State Board of Education establish graduation requirements. However, graduation ceremony rules and allowances are set by the school district, she told The N&O in an email.

The district does not have a local policy, but students typically graduate from the school where they are officially enrolled, district spokesman Kevin Smith said in an email Thursday.

The school board was aware of Jaylan’s request, he said, but a Partnership Academy student had never gotten the option to graduate from Orange High School. Other students have graduated from Partnership or finished their studies at Orange High School, he said.

The issue has come up at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, however, where a student made a similar request in 2015. Smith said that request was handled by school officials at that time.

Emily Hurst, the student who graduated from Cedar Ridge High School, told The N&O in a text message Thursday that she was sent to Partnership after her freshman year because of academic issues.

Partnership got her “back on track to graduate on time,” Hurst said, but she also attended chorus classes at Cedar Ridge for two years. At graduation, she was told “I attended both schools so the choice was mine,” said Hurst, who now lives in Rockingham County.

“I am shocked to see this as an issue,” Hurst said about Jaylan. “I hope everything works out for him to walk!”

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com