Seniors want in-person ceremonies as Wake draws up new graduation plans amid COVID-19
Some Wake County high school seniors are unhappy with the idea of holding virtual graduation ceremonies, even though school leaders say they eventually will try to offer in-person events as well.
Last week, the Wake County school system announced it was canceling traditional in-person graduation ceremonies scheduled for May and June due to the public health restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The potential alternative of virtual ceremonies possibly followed up by school-based in-person events has drawn complaints from some seniors who say they feel the graduation experience is being taken away from them.
“They have made a decision that impacts thousands of students; some being the first gen and others never getting another graduation,” Kailynn Davis, a Wake senior, wrote on an online petition she created. “The class of 2020 doesn’t want an online graduation, just a normal one we have dreamed of since we were little kids.”
Davis’ petition to bring back graduation had more than 300 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. Another online petition with 200 signatures as of Wednesday calls for allowing Green Hope High School in Cary to hold a graduation ceremony on the football field while using social distancing.
“There is no reason that we as seniors shouldn’t have a traditional graduation, when there are clear ways that one can be hosted,” Elizabeth Penn, a Green Hope senior, writes on the petition she helped create. “We have worked for over 12 years for this monumental moment in our lives, we should not let it be taken away because of some roadblocks!!”
Wake working on graduation options
Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton said it’s wrong to say that the district has canceled graduation for its 34 high schools and more than 11,000 seniors.
“We’ve canceled the traditional graduation plans and dates,” Sutton said in an interview Wednesday. “We’ve not said that we’re canceling graduation.”
A team of Wake County school administrators will meet Thursday to discuss different graduation options, with details potentially being announced to the public Friday. Wake could do virtual/video ceremonies in June with what Sutton calls “customized” in-person events potentially happening later at high schools in June or July.
“The goal is to still give high school seniors some kind of personalized graduation experience,” Sutton said. “How and when it gets done is still up in the air. But that is the goal.”
Earlier this month, the state Department of Public Instruction told school districts that graduations must adhere to Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders. This includes limiting how many people can be at events and keeping people at least 6 feet apart to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Locally, Durham Public Schools announced that some high schools will hold drive-in ceremonies at The Streets at Southpoint mall. Other schools will hold virtual ceremonies, with students going on campus at scheduled times to pick up their diploma.
The Orange County school system will hold graduations at the Orange County Speedway, with students exiting their vehicles to walk across a stage to get their diploma. The district says it hopes to have a second more traditional ceremony at a later time “when it is absolutely safe to do so.”
Johnston and Chatham counties and the Chapel HIll-Carrboro school system haven’t announced their revised graduation plans yet. The districts say they’re reviewing survey responses from seniors.
Big districts release graduation plans
Wake is North Carolina’s largest school district. The other districts that make up the five largest in the state all announced their graduation plans Tuesday.
▪ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will host virtual, pre-recorded graduations with drive-through ceremonies for seniors to pick up their diplomas. Each high school will organize an in-person celebration when COVID-19 restrictions allow.
▪ Guilford County Schools will host “drive-thru” recognitions with in-person celebrations held at a later date.
▪ Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools will hold virtual ceremonies followed a week later with events at schools where seniors can walk across a stage. A face-to-face graduation ceremony will be scheduled when conditions allow.
▪ Cumberland County Schools is rescheduling graduations to July and hopes to still have them at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville.
Sutton said what Wake is doing is consistent with how many other districts are approaching graduation this year.
Some parents and students have asked about pushing graduations to August or later. Sutton said the senior class presidents that Wake school leaders met with last week told them they thought it would be getting too late to hold the ceremonies in August.
Whatever Wake decides, Apex High School senior Alexis Colton said the district needs to explore every option for its graduates.
“I’m open to all the various in-person graduations, as opposed to just giving up,” Colton said Wednesday. “This could include small groups graduating across the football field or a drive-thru graduation or something like that.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Seniors want in-person ceremonies as Wake draws up new graduation plans amid COVID-19."
