Parents of Woodland High School students are circulating an online petition asking the school board to reconsider their decision to hold virtual graduation ceremonies due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This petition is being put together by the parents and their graduating seniors in hopes that the Woodland Joint Unified School District Board will reconsider their decision to hold a virtual graduation ceremony,” the petition reads. “These hardworking young adults deserve to have a traditional graduation, especially after most of them voted for it and have since voiced their desires via email, phone calls, and letters to the Superintendent and Board Members.”
The petition titled “Woodland High Class of 2020 Traditional Graduation Ceremony,” had around 470 signatures as of Saturday afternoon.
“I completely understand everyone’s disappointment about the decision on this year’s high school graduation, and I appreciate the fact that these parents are advocating on behalf of their children,” Trustee Jake Whitaker said. “This was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. Our district cares very deeply for our students.”
During an April 29 special school board meeting, trustees discussed two other options, including a postponed virtual ceremony and a traditional graduation ceremony later in the summer — if shelter in place precautions allowed — before deciding to hold virtual ceremonies in June.
“It’s just frustrating,” said Collen May, mother of a graduating senior. “They could have at least not made the decision so quickly. The final answer may still be the same in the end, but at least they would have listened to the kids.”
The graduation plan agreed to by school trustees is to stream each ceremony separately during the time the school would normally have it. Pioneer High School is scheduled to have its ceremony on Friday, June 5, while Woodland High School’s is set for Saturday, June 6.
Superintendent Tom Pritchard and district staff have been busy planning and speaking with vendors to ensure the virtual ceremonies go as planned.
“Since the time of the decision, the staff has been working diligently to plan for virtual graduation ceremonies on the scheduled dates of graduation as directed by the board,” Pritchard said. “The site principals are working with students, staff, and parents to work out the details and fine-tune how everyone will participate. In fact, our vendor just met with our site principals this morning (Friday) to discuss how each ceremony can be unique to each school.”
“As a board, we had a thorough discussion and carefully considered some of the alternatives being proposed by our community as well as feedback from the surveys that were circulated,” Whitaker said. “Unfortunately, based on the public health orders from the county and the state, those alternatives weren’t feasible for us.”
“It didn’t seem fair to get everyone’s hopes up for a July graduation when there is a high likelihood that we would have to cancel it eventually anyway,” Whitaker continued. “The reality is that we aren’t an outlier. This same decision is being made by school districts all throughout the state.”
In the survey to parents, students and community sent out by the District a few weeks ago, around 80% of the 570 responses preferred waiting and seeing if in-person graduation could be pulled off at a later date, according to Jacob Holt, the Director of Secondary Education.
“A few weeks ago, the District sent out multiple emails and calls, not to mention social media posts by multiple affiliated groups of the school asking graduating seniors and their parents to complete a survey about what they would like to have happen for graduation this year,” the petition read. “At the time of the meeting, almost 600 votes had been placed, and over 80% voted for a postponed traditional ceremony. The voice of the parents, but most importantly the graduating seniors, was, in fact, not important to those who made this decision. They didn’t care to take in what was really wanted by the majority.”
The board chose to go with the safest option for ceremonies not only in terms of public health but also in making sure a graduation ceremony of any kind would take place on time.
“The only guarantee that we have a ceremony is if we do it virtually,” said Trustee Rogelio Villagrana during the April 29 meeting. “There is so much uncertainty, and there is no guarantee we will be able to do it in person. The more we push it back, the less likely we will have everyone that can attend. Who knows when we can do gatherings of 100 or more people.”
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Woodland High School parents petition for traditional graduation ceremony - Woodland Daily Democrat
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