Could Wake still have graduation ceremonies this spring? Officials hold out hope.
Wake County school leaders say they’re still hoping to hold high school graduation ceremonies despite the coronavirus pandemic interrupting the school year.
Around 11,000 Wake County high school seniors had planned to graduate in ceremonies scheduled for May and June, mostly at the Raleigh Convention Center and N.C. State University’s Reynolds Coliseum.
Wake County Superintendent Cathy Moore said Friday that the district is maintaining its contracts for the venues as it tries to hold on to its graduation plans.
“We have had discussions about alternatives should those late May, early June dates not work,” Moore said at a news conference Friday. “I really am committed to figuring out a way to provide our seniors with that milestone.”
All North Carolina public schools are closed through at least May 15 to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Coronavirus interrupts plans for seniors
The timing of the school closures has been particularly hard on high school seniors, canceling many of their spring activities such as proms, the News & Observer reported.
The coronavirus also raised questions about whether some seniors could graduate on time.
Wake, like other North Carolina school districts, is adopting the State Board of Education’s policy of giving seniors a passing grade for the spring semester if they were passing a class as of March 13 — the last day before schools closed.
The spring semester classes are not counting in the grade-point-averages for seniors.
For seniors who were not passing a class they needed to graduate, districts are offering them remote learning options to help them to raise their grade.
Wake is encouraging seniors who’ve passed all their required classes to still take part in the remote learning opportunities now being used. But a question many seniors and their families have raised is whether they’ll still be able to have a graduation ceremony.
“We know that our seniors have lost quite a bit during this pandemic,” Wake school board chairman Keith Sutton said Friday. “It is my hope, and I think of the board and superintendent as you just heard, that if we can salvage anything I would certainly like to see that graduation experience.
“We’re going to work very hard to make sure that we can have a meaningful experience for our seniors and have that opportunity.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 12:55 PM.
