What is there to do when a covid-19 pandemic puts the kibosh on a traditional high school graduation?
The leadership at Clinton High School in north-central Arkansas has come up with a solution -- one that draws on both 21st-century technology and an old-school drive-in movie theater to celebrate the school's approximately 100 soon-to-be graduates from the Class of 2020.
Across the state, superintendents, principals, teachers and others are getting closer to finalizing plans for very atypical spring graduation ceremonies -- made necessary by the highly contagious and potentially deadly coronavirus that causes the covid-19 illness. The virus led to the mid-March closure of school buildings to the state's more than 470,000 students, including seniors who saw their last year of sports and academic competitions, award ceremonies, assemblies, concerts, banquets and even proms fall by the wayside.
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Efforts are underway statewide to preserve graduations, but planning events for dozens and sometimes hundreds of seniors and their families is particularly challenging because of requirements for physical distancing and directives against groups of more than 10 -- all precautions against spreading the virus.
Many districts, including those in Pulaski County, anticipate announcing plans over the next several days.
Springdale Superintendent Jim Rollins said Friday that plans for the "alternative graduation experience" will be announced by principals at the four high schools.
Districts such as Clinton, Hope, Fayetteville and Jonesboro have released information on their plans. Most of the announced and anticipated plans use the word "virtual" in their descriptions. Often companies that cater to high school graduations, such as Herff Jones and Jostens, are playing a role in crafting the plans.
"Whether or not to have a graduation ceremony was never the question," Clinton Superintendent Jay Chalk and High School Principal Tim Smith wrote to the seniors recently. "The question was, in light of the situation, how can we honor this class in a way that is as historic as the times?"
In Clinton, starting April 27 and over the course of four days, graduates will don their caps and gowns, gather their closest family members and head to Yellowjacket Auditorium to walk across the stage. Smith will present each graduate with a diploma, and Chalk will flip the gold tassel on each mortarboard. The graduates will then head to the photographer for a portrait.
Each scheduled, individual ceremony will be allotted 15 minutes, Chalk said.
Yes, there will be temperature-taking and health screening for all the students and their guests prior to entering the auditorium. And face masks are to be worn -- except for in the portrait, Chalk said.
And about the drive-in theater? The Kenda Drive-In in Marshall?
ViaMedia, a Mayflower production company, will splice together the video from each individual student ceremony along with the videos of student and adult speech-makers. Music such as "Pomp and Circumstance" will play.
The resulting video will be shown at The Kenda on the evening of May 18. Each student will be provided with two tickets that will enable two cars per student to view the night's featured film. Keepsake DVDs of the production also will be provided to the graduates.
"We understand that this is not what you expected," Chalk and Smith wrote to students, also saying they wanted to give students as much of the traditional graduation experience as possible while maintaining a safe environment.
"This is a groundbreaking way of celebrating graduation. The Class of 2020 will be making history," they wrote about the ceremony that has attracted national media attention.
Chalk, a Clinton High graduate himself, said he is thrilled about the plan and the community's excitement about it.
"My thinking is that it is a great stress reliever for a lot of people, and I know that they need that at this time," Chalk said.
Smith said the plan is the product of group brainstorming and isn't exactly what everyone expected or wanted, but it does provide closure to students, he said.
"Graduation is the last time the seniors will ever be together as one. This way, although we will all be in our cars, we'll be there together for one last 'hurrah,'" Smith said.
Clinton High Senior Brooke Bradford said she is disappointed about the school year's abrupt end, but she is also grateful for "the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments now ... in a really unique way."
Bradford, 17, who is planning to attend the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to study agricultural communications, expects to be her class salutatorian and a speaker in the Clinton Class of 2020 video.
"I still get to show my pride in being a Yellowjacket and in the black and gold, and the community of Clinton," she said.
HOPE BOBCATS
Technology is also instrumental in the graduation plan for about 140 Hope High School seniors, Principal Bill Hoglund said Friday.
During a two-hour period May 8, seniors who already have their caps and gowns will drive through the campus to pick up their diplomas, honor stoles, cords, medals and even yard signs noting their membership in the Class of 2020.
"That will happen on graduation day," Hoglund said. "We want to declare them graduates."
Over the subsequent week, the new graduates will be asked to wear their graduation regalia and record videos of themselves saying a few words of gratitude to their families or others they respect. The videos will be sent to a production company that will compile the clips for watching on YouTube Live.
The resulting product also will feature traditional commencement music, as well as students and adults speaking from the decorated high school auditorium stages. Steven Walden, a Hope High alumnus and a St. Louis artist, will give a virtual address.
The video will be available for students to download in whole and in part so that they can share it across several social media platforms.
"We hope the keepsake will help make up for not doing this in person," Hoglund said. "It's going to be the closest thing to a graduation that we can do while observing the safety guidelines that are in place right now."
Hoglund acknowledged that the plan is not what most students would prefer, but he anticipates that they will like the end product -- a personal, historically significant artifact.
MASH-UP EVENT
Fayetteville High school has rescheduled graduation for 9:30 a.m. July 2 at the high school's football field, although that's subject to change based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the school's website.
Fayetteville is also planning a Project Graduation and prom mash-up for later that day at the high school, where seniors will be invited to wear their prom attire and celebrate with friends. The district also bought purple "Class of 2020" signs it distributed free to seniors Friday for them to display in their yards or in a window.
In the Little Rock School District, Randy Rutherford, executive director for secondary education, is leading a task force of principals, parents and students to design events.
The Pulaski County Special School District has not released graduation ceremony plans for its four high schools but will likely do that this week, spokesman Jessica Duff said. The district traditionally holds one graduation ceremony after another on a Saturday at the Stephens Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The multiple schools and the large size of the senior classes creates an extra challenge in developing workable plans, Duff said, adding that the district wants the ceremonies for each campus to be similar in the interest of equity.
Bryan Duffie, superintendent of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District, said information about a virtual ceremony through Jostens is forthcoming. The district also plans a traditional graduation ceremony at a date and place to be determined.
Information for this article was contributed by Dave Perozek of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 04/19/2020