NEWS

Graduates will walk the stage again

Class of 2021 will have a modified in-person graduation

BY ABIGAIL TRACY In this age of chaos, confusion, grief and crisis, 2021 seniors have been robbed of a normal senior year. From limited attendance at sports events, no Homecoming, a split between in person and virtual learning, seniors are missing out. The question of whether a proper graduation would even happen was foggy up until the past few weeks. With the fourth quarter rolling by, information regarding graduation was released . After months of planning, it was announced that an in person graduation will take place. However, there will be strict guidelines for parents and students.

“We wanted this graduation ceremony to be as normal as possible within the context of the pandemic and associated regulations,” principal Matt Durst said.

The ceremony is planned to take place on the new football field at Walter J. Hodges Stadium to allow for the utmost amount of ventilation and social distancing space. Students will take their seats on the field while families will take their seats in the stands. To allow for proper social distancing, students will be allotted six tickets each. Each family will have a designated area in the stands in order to enforce proper social distancing.

With the ceremony being outdoors this year, the threat of inclement weather caused the school to rethink the rules to accommodate this possible situation.

The school designed a “plan B” in the case of bad weather. This plan is designed to where the ceremony will be moved indoors, taking place in the gymnasium. Instead of six tickets per grad, it will be reduced to two because of the smaller, indoor area.

Whether the ceremony will be held indoors or outdoors, masks will be required for everyone in attendance for the safety of students, staff and families.

For students, they should expect social distancing between other students on the field and off. The ceremony will commence as normal as possible except for one change.

“As with all new things, there were several questions that needed to be answered in the planning process,” Durst said. “For example, would we need to use a field cover to protect the surface or could it withstand these items?”

With the graduates being sat on the turf, high-heeled shoes pose a threat of damaging the field. In order to prevent that, students must only wear flat soled shoes.

Despite some small changes in the structure of the ceremony, seniors are graduating together.

“One of our highest priorities was having the graduating class together for the ceremony,” Durst said.

With the hours of discussion and planning, Granville Schools is giving the seniors a real, well-deserved graduation ceremony that they have been working for years.

District announces new Covid plan

Students can expect fewer restrictions in '21-22 school year

BY SOPHIE EHRMAN The 20-21 school year came with the call for new adaptations, restrictions, and entirely unprecedented means of learning. Now that this roller coaster of a year is coming to a close, many are left wondering what the school year will look like next year. Students can expect fewer restrictions, a larger percentage of in-person learning and optional mask wearing can be expected for the 21-22 school year l.

According to the PowerPoint released by the school board on May 18, all students will return to in-person instruction unless medically necessary and supported by documentation.

High school transportation and double routing will be reestablished and the 2 mile no transportation radius will be reduced to 1 mile or less.

The schools’ start and end times will look similar to those of pre-Covid times, and the same can be applied to the bell schedule.

Masks will be optional and social distancing will be enforced to the maximum extent possible. The district recently announced that masks are optional for elementary school students for the remainder of this year.

The district noted that all of this new information is subject to change as new information regarding Covid data may arise throughout the summer.

The district made its planned based on the Ohio Department of Education’s “Reset and Restart” program, which gives the public an idea of upcoming ideas and plans. The website includes a comprehensive collection of helpful resources from planning guides for schools to updated graduation pathways. The web page is updated frequently with information to ensure a student-centered approach to providing high-quality teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to their website.

From this it can be expected that almost all Ohio high schools will likely either be full 5-day in-person learning, or adopt a hybrid plan of both on-line and in-person instruction.

According to Kara Arundel of K-12 Dive, increased vaccine administration for adults and the hope of childhood vaccines this fall, winter or early in 2022 are helping drive confidence.

Superintendents, however, say it’s difficult to predict the status of the pandemic five months from now. That uncertainty is pushing them to prepare for multiple scenarios as COVID-19 continues to be a major health crisis. Superintendents across the country are placing emphasis on flexibility under the expectation of rapidly and constantly changing circumstances.