Sonoma County high schools modifying graduation ceremonies in response to coronavirus

With traditional graduation ceremonies on hold because of the coronavirus, Sonoma County schools are working on alternatives. Some have embraced drive-thru graduations and many are creating commemorative videos.|

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.”

In the meantime, the coming days will bring drive-thru events, online presentations, social media shout-outs and as much pomp and circumstance as social distancing will allow.

This time has been hard for school staff and teachers as well, said Maria Carrillo principal Katie Barr. They, too, are missing out on a chance to say a traditional goodbye to this class.

On Friday, Carrillo seniors are invited to wear their cap and gown and participate in a drive-thru ceremony where they will have their name read by a classmate, have their picture taken with their diploma case, say goodbye to their advocacy teacher and get back into their car and drive away. In a video message posted on social media, a disappointed-sounding Barr called it making lemonade out of lemons.

She still holds out hope that the seniors can be celebrated with a group breakfast or lunch if and when restrictions on large gatherings are lessened.

Anything staffers and volunteers do is to help say goodbye to this class, she said last week.

“It’s to say, ‘We are so proud of you and thank you for all that you have given us over the last four years. We don’t want to be robbed of that moment, selfishly.”

At Rancho Cotate, discussions with members of the senior class leadership about how to mark graduation of about 400 seniors have been ongoing, according to Principal Louis Ganzler.

“This is a very emotional issue, for parents especially,” he said. “One of my jobs is to handle lots of communication. I have had many parents reach out to me, especially in the beginning, expressing very clearly that they want to see their child walk across the stage, which is one of the reasons the drive-thru is gaining momentum.”

Video to the rescue

Caps and gowns have already been distributed and seniors were tasked with having portraits of themselves taken decked out in their graduation garb over the weekend. The deadline was last Monday to submit the “graduation” photo to filmmaking teacher Jason Dawe, who will include it in final video production.

More than 70% of the senior class sent in pictures by the deadline, Dawe said.

“I was blown away,” he said. “I was not expecting that many.”

It points to the import of this day for so many, administrators said.

“I think it will be especially meaningful for family members not able to travel to attend. Grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles who are not able to be here,” Casa Grande’s Ostermann said of commemorative videos. “That will be a nice way for them to participate fully.”

Across town at Petaluma High, the idea was to air the video at a time that would connect students and families, even as they are kept apart.

“We go live on the 30th,” Petaluma High principal Justin Mori said.

The 30th is, of course, the day traditional graduation had been scheduled for the Trojans.

“Ideally we would like them to have the opportunity to go through it together,” he said. “We pulled together our own photos, we’re recording messages from students, from parents and staff. I’ll be recording a message, the superintendent has recorded a message.”

And the video piece might be something that schools incorporate in years to come, even when traditional ceremonies are back on.

“I think one of the silver linings of this … is this will be pretty successful and could be a useful tool for us in the future,” Ostermann said.

Exchange of ideas

Notions on how to pull off drive-thru ceremonies or how to create memorable videos are being shared among colleagues who are pressed for time and lack some flexibility.

“Good ideas catch on quickly,” Ganzler said. “There are a lot of forwarded emails.”

For as much as officials are putting into the modified events in the coming days and weeks, fingers are still crossed that seniors and their families can experience the kind of graduation they have long envisioned.

“The overwhelming majority wanted graduation to be postponed and have an opportunity for a live event,” Mori said. “We still hope it can happen.”

You can reach staff writer Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.

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