EAST PROVIDENCE — From devastation to anger to exhilaration to grief.

Those are the emotions Cynthia Oliver has experienced coping with her son Christopher’s on-again, off-again graduation from East Providence High School.

The roller coaster started just days before the school’s June 14 graduation ceremony when the Summit Street family learned that Christopher had failed history, French and piano, leaving him one credit shy of the total needed for a diploma.

Richard and Cynthia Oliver were distraught that they would not see their son in cap and gown, the first in the family to make it through the 12th grade. They canceled a big party and gave up plans to order a cake with his picture on it.

Weeks after the ceremony, Christopher’s report card arrived. It reported that he had passed piano, albeit with the lowest score possible, a 60. His parents contacted high school principal Caroline Caswell who confirmed their conclusion: Christopher had accumulated enough credits to graduate after all. He went to the school, picked up a diploma, and canceled plans for summer school.

The mistake was so upsetting, Richard Oliver wrote a letter to The Journal. A subsequent story about the situation carried apologies from school officials.

Piano teacher Maryann Lasoursa was unaware of the situation until she read the story last week. She realized that she had made a mistake, but not the one everyone thinks she made. She should have written 50, not 60, on his report card. He really had failed.

The music teacher outlined her side of the story in a letter that she intended for The Journal but sent to the school administration for review first.

“I don’t want to say anything that speaks ill of the student,” Supt. Jacqueline Forbes said, refusing to release it. Summarizing Lasoursa’s letter, Forbes continued, “She felt sick to her stomach. She did check [his grades] twice.”

Despite the mistake, the superintendent said Christopher can keep his diploma because “whenever there is an administrative error such as this, we don’t deny the student.”

Cynthia Oliver received the phone call from the principal yesterday morning. Richard Oliver said Caswell told his wife she was giving the family “a heads up” and that “your son got a free pass.” “My wife is very emotional to begin with,” he said. “Why did they have to call her? Why are they changing their minds now? I know why, because they didn’t like [last Friday’s article]. They didn’t like the negative publicity and they are just trying to cover it all up.”

He continued, “I don’t buy it at all and I have four report cards that say he has 24 credits. The issue is not with my son, it’s with the staff. How many mistakes can one teacher make?”

Forbes agrees that errors, particularly when it affects a student’s eligibility to graduate, should not occur. She said administrators were looking into ways to minimize the misreporting of grades. “As far as I’m concerned, he did enough to graduate and we’re moving forward,” Richard Oliver said. “We told [The Journal] the truth as we saw it and everyone has been very supportive. The school just didn’t like it in print.”

After the story, employees of Sam’s Club — where Cynthia Oliver works — rallied, collecting enough money so the family could have a celebration at Dave & Busters.

The party is scheduled for Aug. 10 and a cake with his picture is on order.

apina@projo.com