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Little pomp for local graduations under these circumstances
By Gayla Cawley and Steve Krause | April 30, 2020
As it stands now, this year’s high school seniors who are due to graduate in the next two months will most likely be well into their first semester of college before they’re able to take part in a traditional ceremony.
Faced with state social-distancing regulations that extend into the middle of May, and the closing of schools for the remainder of the year, administrators have had to scurry to come up with concrete and meaningful ways to honor their seniors. While some communities are well on their way to firming up plans to do that, many others are not.
In Lynn, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said public schools will hold virtual graduations June 12, with plans for a possible in-person ceremony during Thanksgiving break.
“One of the most challenging aspects of the extended closure has been the loss of this seminal celebration,” said Tutwiler.
The virtual celebration will encompass consecutive graduations for all three of the district’s high schools: Lynn English, Lynn Classical and Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.
Seniors will be asked to submit their class yearbook photos, which will be compiled as part of a slideshow that will be shown during the ceremony. Each graduate’s photo could possibly be accompanied by space for their favorite memory and/or what they will miss the most, Tutwiler said.
The senior photos shown on the slideshow are meant to serve as the virtual equivalent of graduates who would walk across the stage to receive their diplomas during a traditional celebration, Tutwiler said.
Preceding that will be the airing of pre-recorded speeches from Tutwiler, each school’s principal, the class valedictorian and salutatorian, among others, he said.
“I think it’ll actually be pretty nice,” said Tutwiler. “It’s the best that we can do with what we’re allowed to do at this point in time. There’s no way that we were going to go into the summer without celebrating our seniors and their accomplishments, but given the uncertainty going beyond the school year with group gatherings and health and safety, it just seemed prudent to go ahead and start planning something rather than rolling the dice and seeing what happens later on.”
An in-person graduation would tentatively be held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, said Tutwiler, noting that students would likely be home for the holiday break.
There are no set plans for KIPP Academy in Lynn.
“We are still planning for a safe and celebratory graduation in collaboration with our student and family councils,” said Caleb Dolan, KIPP Massachusetts executive director.
Dr. John Dolan, head of school at St. Mary’s, also talked about having a virtual graduation ceremony, but has not come up with a date. That will be determined when he’s able to meet with the committee he put together to decide on end-of-year things.
Dolan said he had one meeting with the group, which also includes students.
“It was amazing,” he said. “They understood they may have to give up the prom pretty quickly,” he said. But they wanted to save graduation.
So, he said, the school has reserved the day after Thanksgiving at City Hall for a formal ceremony.
In other communities, plans are not nearly as firm.
Graduation plans are still up in the air in Swampscott and Saugus.
“We are obviously aware that our seniors are affected the most by (the closing of schools for the year), and we are committed to being creative to come up with ways for them to be properly recognized for what is truly a milestone in their lives,” Swampscott School Superintendent Pamela Angelakis said.
This is an issue doubly important for Angelakis as she is the parent of a high school senior.
“I am especially sensitive to what these kids are going through and the importance of letting them know that their achievements will not be diminished by the circumstances we are all facing.”
Saugus Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi said the town is still in the planning stages for its ceremony too.
“We’ve been having a lot of virtual hangout meetings and things like that,” said DeRuosi. “We’re taking this one step at a time.
“At first, we were waiting to see whether we’d reopen,” he said. “Now that we know we’re not, we’re looking at a variety of moving-forward steps, and that includes end-of-the-year events. All of it is being discussed.”
DeRuosi also said that the town wants to wait until it sees what the state is going to do.
“We’re all in the same boat on this,” he said. “So we’re really going to go about this very methodically. We still have time, so we’re going to put our heads together. There are a lot of people who have ideas.”
DeRuosi said he wants to make sure he includes all the “stakeholders,” which he defines as “students, parents, the School Committee, town officials, teachers and administrators.”
“Hopefully,” he said, “the state will give us some guidance.”
In Lynnfield, superintendent Jane Tremblay said administrators are working to put a ceremony together, and “thinking outside the box.
“This is a very challenging situation,” she said. “The whole thing is very sad for them, that they won’t be able to have the milestone celebrated the way those who graduated before them did.”
But, she said, “they’ll still be able to graduate, and they’ll still get a diploma. And it may be one of the most memorable things in their lives.”
Tremblay said she’s sure students understand what has happened and appreciate what’s being done on their behalf.
“They don’t take any of this for granted,” she said. “I’m sure they understand all that’s being done to make their graduations the best possible in the middle of a pandemic.”
In Peabody, acting superintendent Marc Kerble said the issue has not been settled, but is being discussed with city officials.
“We will be examining how we could possibly have graduation ceremonies in June,” he said. “Any discussion will include the Peabody School Committee, which meets (next week). I will know more then.”
There are no firm plans at either Peabody’s Bishop Fenwick or St. John’s Prep in Danvers.