Updated

A Rhode Island school district that had come under criticism for canceling a night for honors students over concerns that the event would be too “exclusive” is reversing its stance.

An email sent out to parents of students at Archie R. Cole Middle School in East Greenwich over the weekend said students who would normally be honored at the spring event would instead be recognized during team-based ceremonies and graduation, the East Greenwich Patch reported.

"Members of the school community have long expressed concerns related to the exclusive nature of Honors Night," the email stated.

But in a statement released on Tuesday, the middle school backed off.

"We have decided to honor excellence as we had planned, but at a traditional evening event," said the statement, which was posted on the school's website. "We are exceedingly proud of the outstanding achievements of Cole students, and obviously had no intention of failing to acknowledge and celebrate exemplary student accomplishment in its many forms. Rather, our intention was to create a venue where all kids who meet the high expectations that we set for them are recognized and celebrated in a manner consistent with our core values about student learning and performance."

The statement says the school is planning an event next month to "celebrate student excellence."

Kaitlyn Kosloski, an eighth-grader at the school, had expressed disappointment that the night was canceled.

“That made me [want to] work harder and a lot of other people work harder, so just the fact you can’t work toward it anymore then there is no goal,” she had told ABC 6.

East Greenwich Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Victor Mercurio did not return a message left by FoxNews.com on Tuesday.

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