Sonoma County high schools modifying graduation ceremonies in response to coronavirus
News that Sonoma County high schools will be allowed to host drive-thru graduation ceremonies in the coming days and weeks is being met with cheers from school officials, a nod to the unprecedented times being navigated by students, their families, and school staff.
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Steve Herrington sent word Thursday to district officials across the county that Gov. Gavin Newsom had approved drive-thru graduations and similar events, but with strict rules to protect the safety of participants.
Limitations aside, the announcement was lauded by West Sonoma County Union High School District Superintendent Toni Beale, who expects approximately 420 students to graduate from Analy, El Molino and Laguna high schools in celebrations that will stretch from June 2-4.
“All we want to do is honor our graduates,” she said.
“They have worked really hard for 4 years and to not have a celebration to mark the end of their high school career, it didn’t seem right,” she said. “To not be able to give them some recognition and some rite of passage just didn’t seem fair. This group of students didn’t have prom, didn’t have awards night, they didn’t have all those things you look forward to.”
Officials in high schools from Cloverdale to Petaluma and every campus in between have been scrambling for months to come up ways to honor the class of 2020 while adhering to an ever-changing list of safety protocols established by both state and county officials to help combat the coronavirus. Many schools are creating commemorative videos - featuring commencement speeches from students and staff, a roll call of graduates’ names and the playing of “Pomp and Circumstance” - which will be played online both at the appointed hour of the original graduation and in some cases distributed to grads.
Brief stop for photo-op
The drive-thru events will begin this week, with Cardinal Newman hosting its ceremony on Saturday followed by Healdsburg High on June 5. They will offer photo ops for grads, who will step out of their cars to pick up diploma cases that were set down on sanitized tables by administrators wearing gloves and masks. School officials will be on hand - 6 feet away - and students will get to walk across a stage, have their photo taken and move their tassel from right to left, before returning to their cars.
Under county-issued safety mandates, all drive-thru events must be coordinated with law enforcement to help with vehicle control and all participants in cars must be registered for infection tracing purposes. Diplomas and cases must be placed on a table by staff wearing gloves, and cars should not be made to wait in any holding area more than 30 minutes.
Those who are older than 65 and not immediate family members should be restricted, according to the directive, and those with preexisting conditions should not be in the car.
On Friday night, there will be bell ringing and pots and pans banging when families of Santa Rosa City Schools’ six high schools are encouraged to sound off at 7 p.m. - the approximate hour the largest district in Sonoma County was supposed to send thousands of seniors on their way.
“Congratulations, Grad” signs are popping up in front yards across the county. In downtown Healdsburg, banners will fly from lampposts, each featuring the name and photograph of a graduating Greyhound.
“Why do we want to do so much? We feel like we can’t do enough,” Healdsburg High principal Bill Halliday said. “This senior class has missed more days of school and had more crises and disruptions than any class that has passed through our doors. You’d have to go back to World War I or World War II.”
Agreed, said Casa Grande High principal Dan Ostermann.
“It’s truly the most resilient class that may have ever been,” he said.
Dates slip to summer
Like traditional commencement ceremonies that have come before them, varying versions of the modified ceremonies will take place all over the county.
Santa Rosa High will have daily themes celebrating seniors announced on social media this week, while other campuses will host modified ceremonies with the hope that something more traditional might be allowed deeper into the summer.
Santa Rosa City Schools, Rancho Cotate, Cardinal Newman, Petaluma, Casa Grande, as well as Petaluma’s alternative high schools Carpe Diem, Sonoma Mountain and San Antonio are all eyeing dates later this summer to host some kind of in-person event, if health and safety protocols allow.
“A lot of time and effort has gone into it to give the students as much as we can and stay within the county health rules, which is a moving target,” said Graham Rutherford, dean of student life at Cardinal Newman. “We know it’s limited and it’s unfortunate.”
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