With less than two months left in the school year, local high schools are deliberating on whether commencement ceremonies can be held in person again after going virtual in 2020.
While some tentative ideas have been discussed, much will depend on conversations with local health officials.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has not yet announced a plan for graduation, but Superintendent Jim Roberts discussed some possibilities at a recent school board meeting.
For Hauser Jr./Sr. High School, graduation is scheduled for May 28 in the school’s gym, but Principal David Wintin said that this is a tentative plan.
In 2020, BCSC prerecorded and streamed virtual graduation ceremonies for all of its high schools. The schools also held in-person recognition events to help make the milestone special for seniors. In some cases, events were held on multiple days to prevent large numbers of students and family members from gathering all at once.
Last year, Columbus East had a graduating class of 277 students; North’s was 424. For CSA New Tech, the graduating class was 76 students.
At Monday’s school board meeting, Roberts said that the school corporation hopes to hold “modified” graduation, similar to the recently announced plans for a “modified prom.”
“We’re not going to pack Memorial Stadium at Columbus North with all of our graduates and everybody they want to bring,” he said. “It’s not going to be that way. But we are working closely with Dr. (Brian) Niedbalski, Bartholomew County Health Department.”
Niedbalski, who is the county’s health officer, has worked closely with BCSC to help the school corporation achieve its goals for the graduation ceremonies while also prioritizing safety.
Roberts said he knows parents and students are looking forward to graduation and said that the school corporation is looking to “properly acknowledge our graduates.” He mentioned the possibility of utilizing outdoor BCSC facilities for venues.
When asked about the allowed number of visitors, Roberts said a final number had not been set yet. Factors in this decision will likely include facilities and future circumstances. BCSC is working with Niedbalski on this decision as well.
Roberts said that the school corporation will provide updates “as the situation allows.”
“We do ask the community to continue to be vigilant and pay attention to numbers and circumstances,” he said. “And as, I know, more and more people get vaccinated and case numbers come down a little … we might tend to take a break from some of those mitigation strategies.”
The school corporation also stated in its recent announcement about prom, “As a school corporation, our main goals for this fourth quarter of the school year are to keep our students in school each day, provide an opportunity for prom, and have graduation. We request the community’s assistance in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 so that these goals become reality.”
Hauser Jr./Sr. High School
In 2020, Hauser posted a virtual commencement ceremony. The processional featured six to seven seconds of each graduate walking in front of the gym bleachers, where socially-distanced family and friends looked on and cheered.
Most of the filming took place earlier that month, on a day set aside for seniors to drop off school-owned property, settle financial accounts and bid Hauser farewell.
The graduation video followed an earlier 17-minute YouTube presentation posted online for the Class of 2020 which featured greetings and words of wisdom to the graduating class from Hauser staff, wishing the class members well.
A vehicle parade celebrating graduation was also held, with video footage of the event shared on the school’s Facebook.
For 2021, Wintin said that graduation is tentatively scheduled for May 28 at 8 p.m. in the Hauser gym.
“Throughout the winter we have been allowed to have 400 individuals at boys’ and girls’ basketball games,” he said in a memo to staff. “As we stand now, we will plan on allowing 400 people for the graduation ceremony. This number includes staff, musicians, workers, graduates, and guests.”
In order to ensure capacity limits, graduation will be a ticketed event, with each graduate getting four tickets for family and friends. School counseling director Kelli Hoeflinger said that there are 68 students in the senior class. If pandemic restrictions ease, students might be allowed more than four tickets, but the ceremony would still be a ticketed event, school officials said.
Masks will be required, and seating will be “set up for family groups with adequate spacing between families,” he said. The ceremony will also be livestreamed and recorded for online viewing.
While this is the tentative plan for graduation, it is not set in stone, Wintin said. The school will speak with the county health department before finalizing the event. While the county has recommended holding graduation outdoors, the school doesn’t have a facility that would accommodate that.
“We will send out mass emails and post on social media as plans are finalized,” he said. “We will adjust based on what the experts tell us.”
Wintin also noted that the main factor that would affect graduation plans is “continued improvement of COVID numbers.”
“Everyone doing their part to reduce the spread of the disease will be the most important thing,” he said.
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According to BCSC’s 2020-2021 school calendar, graduations were scheduled as follows:
- May 28, 7 p.m. — CSA New Tech (at East)
- May 29, 10 a.m. — East
- May 29, 1 p.m. — North
While these were the dates, times and locations originally scheduled, it is possible these details may change in the future.
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- May 7 — Senior Banquet. The plan is to have individually wrapped food items and utilize an outdoor venue (or the field house in case of bad weather).
- May 19 — Awards Day. This is likely to be virtual.
- May 19 — Senior Walk. Wintin said the event is "questionable due to COVID restrictons" and a decision will be made closer to the date.
- May 28, 8 p.m. — Graduation
- June 19 — Prom (rescheduled from April)
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