Texas school taken to court over who was their top performing student

2 Jun 2026 • 11:03 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Texas school taken to court over who was their top performing student

  • Legacy The School for Sport Sciences in Texas was taken to court amidst a dispute between two students over the valedictorian title.
  • Senior Nathan Olivarri was initially named valedictorian but the charter school later said it would give the honour to a junior with a higher GPA, prompting a lawsuit from Olivarri's family.
  • Olivarri's family argued the junior's GPA was improperly calculated and that the change was too late in the academic year according to the student handbook.
  • A judge ruled in favour of Nathan Olivarri, ordering that he be named valedictorian and allowed to deliver a speech at the graduation ceremony.
  • The school said that GPAs were calculated following state guidelines and were announced correctly. It’s founder told KTRK-TV that the legal process in ongoing.

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