For Safety, Palm School District Seeks Day Off for High Schools During Graduation
By Marc Freeman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Apr. 6–Palm Beach County high schools would be closed on graduation days next month, if the state Department of Education approves a school district request.
Superintendent Art Johnson says the school district is in a pickle because officials were forced to schedule some graduation ceremonies during the school day, rather than after hours when it is easier for all teachers and administrators to attend per custom.
With teachers and principals off-campus at daytime graduations, gangs and unruly students could threaten security at schools left open for underclassmen, Johnson warned.
“This is especially a concern as it occurs during the last days of the school year when some students are not concerned about the consequences for their behaviors immediately preceding the summer break,” he wrote in a March 30 letter to Deputy Commissioner Linda Champion, asking for permission to close the schools on graduation days.
The scheduling problem is a result of losing Florida Atlantic University’s gymnasium as a graduation venue this year, because that facility is undergoing roof repairs stemming from Hurricane Wilma damage. Nine of the schools that awarded diplomas at FAU last year shifted to the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach.
Eighteen of the county’s 27 graduation ceremonies will be in the convention center, six in the Kravis Center and three at the schools’ own campuses during the May 18-25 graduation period. Twelve of those ceremonies are scheduled during normal school operating hours.
“As a result of the intense scheduling issues, it will be extremely difficult to keep a school open with a safe and secure environment while conducting a graduation ceremony across the county,” Johnson wrote.
The district asked the state to grant a waiver from a rule requiring a 180-day school year. It would only affect those high schools with daytime graduations, and middle and elementary schools would remain open as usual.
For example, Park Vista High west of Boynton Beach is holding graduation at 11 a.m. May 18, a Friday. The waiver would mean that Park Vista would be closed that day, but Boca Raton High would remain open because its ceremony is not until 4 p.m. the next day, also at the convention center.
Palm Beach Gardens High senior DeAndrea Lorick hopes the school can close so every teacher has a chance to attend graduation at 8 a.m. May 25 at the convention center.
“There’s a lot of students who want [their favorite] teachers to be there,” said Lorick, 18. “It would be sad not to have them. And some students have friends who are graduating and they might want to be there also.”
Johnson shot down the idea of assigning district administrators to fill in at high schools kept open during graduation times, rather than closing them. He said those substitutes would be “unfamiliar with the student population, being unaware of who belongs on campus and who does not.”
If the state rejects the waiver, schools would likely have to ask some teachers and administrators to skip the ceremonies, district spokesman Nat Harrington said.
Lake Worth High Principal Ian Saltzman says he wants his entire staff at the school’s graduation, 3 p.m. May 18 at the convention center. But because the ceremony starts 10 minutes after dismissal, he was planning to ask for a special early dismissal of 12:30 p.m. that day. Closing school would be better, he said.
“You like to have everyone at commencement,” Saltzman said. “It is the crown jewel.”
Marc Freeman can be reached at mjfreeman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6642.
INSIDE
Schedule of graduation ceremonies May 18-25, 2B
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Copyright (c) 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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