From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

The blog Conservatives4Palin is claiming that Wasilla High School disinvited Gov. Sarah Palin from speaking tonight at the graduation ceremony that includes her own daughter, Bristol.

ADN Mat-Su reporter Rindi White called the principal of Wasilla High School, Dwight Probasco, and he didn’t want to talk about it.

“I was not prepared for this call. I’m not ready to give a statement,” he said.

Here’s an excerpt from the Conservatives4Palin post.

“Tonight Gov. Palin will be attending her daughter's graduation from Wasilla High School. We learned that the senior class advisors, representing the student body, invited Gov. Palin to speak to the graduating class. All signs indicate that she accepted the invitation, but the school's administration then decided against it, presumably because they did not want a politician speaking at the ceremony. The school's administration denied any knowledge of this in an email reply to C4P, but the students are sticking by the story as well as our sources in Wasilla.

Even more troubling is the news that Gov. Palin will not be invited on the stage to shake students' hands when they receive their diploma, which is a traditional practice whenever a governor is in attendance."

I asked Palin family spokesperson Meg Stapleton if the Conservatives4Palin post is true. Here's Stapleton's full answer in an email back:

"At the end of the day, the Governor is excited to sit back and enjoy this graduation with no pressure on the stage and in the spotlight. She will relish the moment with the family."

UPDATE -- Rindi called Tony Jensen, one of the two Wasilla High School senior class advisors and a government teacher at the school. Click below to read his description of what happened.

Shortly before 5 p.m., Jensen returned the call. He said school officials ask the senior class – typically their student government leaders – to suggest speakers who have been inspirational to them. The discussion begins months before the event. In this case it began before the class entered its senior year.

Jensen said Palin, who had been chosen as governor since she last gave the school’s commencement address, was the favored pick. School officials were discussing the speaking engagement with the governor’s staff even as late as August. When Palin was picked as the vice-presidential nominee, those discussions took a backseat to her national election campaign. Jensen said he wasn’t sure that she’d ever agreed to speak.

After the election was over, school officials began discussing graduation plans again. Their thinking about asking Palin to speak had changed, Jensen said. The school was already in the national media spotlight because of the election and Palin’s alumni status there. Here’s Jensen’s synopsis:

“We didn’t want that to distract from the graduation ceremony itself. The other idea was, we’d had a political figure speak at the last three or four ceremonies … the idea was floated by our administration that maybe she had had her turn.”

Palin had also given the commencement address at the school when she was mayor of Wasilla, Jensen said. Other notable recent speakers include former Anchorage mayor Rick Mystrom and, last year, Democratic Party candidate for U.S. House Ethan Berkowitz.

Jensen said the question was bounced back to the senior class. They suggested a few other well-known locals, including four-time Iditarod champ Martin Buser and beloved Iditarod musher Dee Dee Jonrowe, but decided to ask English teacher Tom Richards, also a class advisor, to give the commencement, Jensen said. Richards is a favorite teacher among many in the class, he said.

“He’s a very dynamic individual,” Jensen said.