School in Arapahoe County says it will not recognize deceased seniors at their high school graduation

Like many mothers, Mandee McLane-Alvarado dreamed of hearing to her child's name called at graduation, but that's not going to happen for her and for her family.

"They worked very hard to get here," said McLane-Alvarado. "It's 100 percent disrespectful to the families, and again not even just to us, but to their peers."

It's been a frustrating few weeks for McLane-Alvarado and her family after they recently learned their late son Jayden Alvarado and his best friend Ryan Nowlan won't be recognized at their high school graduation. The Eaglecrest High School seniors died six months ago after a tragic car accident.

 "It just knocked me to the floor. It was just a punch to my gut, the one last thing that we were looking forward to be able to celebrating him was just taken away," McLane-Alvarado said. "I feel like they're taking out the human factor out of this graduation which was Ryan and Jayden."

The Eaglecrest community in Arapahoe County is now rallying behind these families with a petition, calling on the Cherry Creek School District superintendent, the CCSD board, and school leadership to honor the boys in some way, like saving an empty seat or allowing someone to accept the diplomas for them.

"These kids have been in CCSD since they were children," said Mackinzee Alvarado, Jayden's sister. "It doesn't take any time away from the school or any finances from the school, in order to just to honor the kids, and honor anybody else that that school has lost in the last year."

In a statement, Lauren Snell, a CCSD spokesperson said while it's not district policy, it's the "district's practice to not recognize deceased students or staff at graduation ceremonies."

This year the student body has been impacted by tragedy after tragedy. Not only with the death of Jayden and Ryan in October, but recently two teachers died, and throughout the school year, the community also lost at least two students to suicide. McLean-Alvarado said it seems like the school district doesn't care about the impact these students and staff had.

"Why? This was the last date we had in our books to be able to celebrate these boys and I really didn't think it was going to be this big of an issue, and I can't believe they're making it that big of an issue," McLean-Alvarado told CBS News Colorado.

Now this community is hoping to evoke change from the school district, not just for Jayden and Ryan but for anyone who doesn't get the chance to walk across the stage, both now and in the future.

"We don't get a college celebration, we don't get a wedding, we don't get any more birthdays. This is something that they worked for, and they should at least be acknowledged for what they were able to do," said Mackinzee.

Snell said the district is working with the families of the boys to provide a personal venue to honor them at a later date, and that representatives are in contact with both families. But McLean-Alvarado said school representatives have only made in contact with her once, and that was to tell her that her son wouldn't be recognized at the graduation. The district was not able to give CBS News Colorado details on when or where that personal ceremony would take place.