Hello, we are trying to gather support for Samantha Guerrier, a senior at Tate High School in Pensacola, FL. This is tied to a story which made national news a few weeks ago concerning the alleged homecoming cheating incident, where a student (Emily Grover, and her mother, Laura) used Laura’s job within the school district to log in as various students, and fraudulently submitted votes to ensure that her daughter would win.

Samantha is Haitian-American, holds a 5.0 GPA and has been accepted into one of the major universities in the country. She has been a model student, both within the realm of academics and extracurricular activities at Tate High School.

Samantha is the editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and was informed by the yearbook advisor, Gail Atkins, who was informed by the principal, Rick Shackle to remove and block out all pictures of Emily Grover.  All of this came about after a post was made on Facebook which went viral amongst other Tate high school parents, which harshly criticized the use of the Tate mascot to cover up Emily’s face. The uproar caught the attention of Principal RickShackle.

Samantha followed the instructions she had been given by her teacher and principal. Once the yearbook was completed, the principal stated to have gone through each page of the yearbook and found no issues with it – in fact, he said she “did an A+ job”. Last week, in a meeting the principal held with Samantha and her father, principal Shackle further mentioned having reviewed each page of the yearbook and stated he did not see nor find anything wrong. Subsequently, he allowed the release of the book. He also stated that if they had to “fix” the page in the yearbook, where Emily Grover’s face had been edited and was covered with a sticker of the Tate Aggie’s mascot, (on page 60 of the Volume 79 TAHISCO Yearbook),  also be found throughout various pages of the yearbook and reprint, it would cost the school about $22,000.

Following the upheaval, principal Shackle called Samantha in to inform her that she was facing a school referral for “defiance and major disruption on campus”. He then requested for Samantha to write a statement concerning the situation. Samantha was not made aware by Principal Shackle, when he was suspending her (May 19th) that she was not able to attend the remaining senior events which would have taken place on May 24th.

Samantha has been on school suspension for five days May 19-May 25th, (with May 24h being the last day for Seniors), pulled from remaining senior activities (including graduation) and was even escorted publicly from school grounds by the police. At this time, no other students are being reprimanded.

Samantha is now being held responsible and being used as a scapegoat when she was simply following orders given to her by her teacher/yearbook advisor, and her principal.

After several failed attempts to get in contact with the Escambia County school district to talk to the superintendent to resolve the matter, Samantha’s parents have now contacted a lawyer. Both Samantha and her father, Active-duty Naval Chief, Herve Guerrier were interviewed by WEAR 3 ABC news in Pensacola, Fl, Monday May 24th, 2021. WEAR 3 has also reached out to the school district but with no success. 

We are publishing this story so this injustice can be reversed and to clear out Samantha ‘s name. We do not wish for this to affect Samantha’s future in any way, for which she has worked so tirelessly by maintaining a stellar  record both academically and disciplinary. We want her to be able to graduate and walk across that stage proudly and obtain her diploma on June 7th.

She should not be held accountable and reprimanded for something that the teacher, Gail Atkins, and the principal, Rick Shackle directed her to do.

Please help up share this. We appreciate any help in the matter.