'Tone deaf': Some question Shaker High's choice of commencement speaker

Some Shaker Heights alumni are calling on the school district to choose another graduation speaker for the high school’s 2024 graduation after they said the selection of former Congresswoman and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge was “tone deaf.”

The concerns stem from a 2015 letter Fudge wrote on behalf of former Ohio State Senator and Cuyahoga County Judge Lance Mason.

At the time, Mason was facing sentencing for the brutal beating of his then-wife Aisha Fraser in front of the couple’s children.

Fraser was a sixth grade teacher at Woodbury Elementary in Shaker Heights.

In her letter to the prosecutor, Fudge called Mason “a kind, intelligent man and loyal friend,” and “a good man who made a very bad mistake.”

After an early release from prison, in 2018 Mason murdered Fraser.

Some in the Class of 2024 were the last students to spend an entire school year with Fraser as their teacher.

“Yeah it's tone deaf,” said Tish Norman, Fraser’s longtime friend and classmate. “It's culture deaf. It's a little bit out of touch.”

Norman said she does not believe Fudge is a bad person, but said the letter showed a bad judgement of character.

“Marcia Fudge is not a bad person, she's done great things,” said Tish Norman, Fraser’s longtime friend. “However, it was a bad judgement of character.”

She worries what Fudge’s connection to Fraser’s killer will mean on a day already filled with reflection.

“You remember your teachers and on a glorious celebratory day that you have with your friends and family, I just don't know if the students who knew and loved Aisha Fraser would be triggered by that,” said Norman.

A Shaker Schools spokesman said no one from the district was available to comment and did not want to issue a statement about the issue.

After Fraser’s murder, Fudge condemned what she called Mason’s horrific crime saying “the person who committed these crimes is not the Lance Mason familiar to me.”

Fudge, who graduated from Shaker Heights High in 1971, did not respond to a request for comment on the concerns surrounding her upcoming speech.

But Norman said it’s clear to her what the district needs to do next.

“Ten toes down, select someone else,” said Norman. “Period! We have to move on, but we also have to move on being sensitive to those who have endured loss.”