Wednesday May 13, 2020 ~ LANGFORD
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Sooke School District 62 (SD62)’s Superintendent Scott Stinson has now made it quite clear that proceeding with a video for the 2020 graduation ceremonies in June is what will happen.
This is despite a vocal outcry from a number of parents and students, including suggestions made directly to the school district, and an online petition that by 8:45 pm tonight May 13 had reached 3,411 signatures (up from 2,799 just yesterday).
Stinson answered a media question from West Shore Voice News tonight on this topic, during the online public SD62 Education Policy Committee Meeting.
Statement by SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson:
“At this point we have received lots of ideas and suggestions, none of which continue to align with the protocols — as we understand — as set out by the PHO office, nor do they align with equity of access for all of our graduates. We continue to move forward with the provision of a video celebration for graduates this year,” said Stinson.
The superintendent continued: “As much as I wish it were otherwise and that we were able to do our normal and traditional graduation celebrations unfortunately the situation that we find ourselves in — in the world, – this is not something of our making – this is something that we’re trying to understand and make sure that we do our best to honour our graduates in a way that keeps them safe and ensures all of our graduates have a voice for themselves on that day as well.”
So the decision looks pretty final: “At this point there’s nothing that’s come forward that’s different that ideas that we already considered, and continue to be problematic in terms of the PHO’s directions around groups and gatherings,” said Superintendent Stinson.
A large group of grads:
There are almost 1,000 Grade 12 students eligible for graduation in SD62 this June. Sadly, this year’s group of grads will have this usual time of passage from the school system into the adult world indelibly marked by the power of COVID-19.
Traditional graduation events for students of the three main high schools — Belmont Secondary School (in Langford), Royal Bay Secondary School (in Colwood), and Edward Milne Community School — in Sooke) have in recent years been held at the UVic auditorium; for the larger schools that has required two sessions (morning and afternoon). The graduates of Westshore Centre for Learning and Training have usually had a gathering at a small venue such as the Royal Colwood Golf Club.
Something different about grad:
While everyone has endured changes, losses and stresses due to the pandemic, somehow the alteration of the high school graduation rite of passage seems particularly hard for everyone involved. In some ways this most clearly smacks of innocence lost, which is why students and parents have tried hard to still somehow make it something with an in-person component.
Oddly, the school district feels that ‘equity’ for graduation not be achieved for all students with anything but a video. But the video approach without any in-person scenario actually leaves most students in a situation of inequity who will likely celebrate in small groups of family or friends without the bond of the shared community moment.
One of the suggestions from Belmont students was that small-group physically-distanced events could be held over the course of a week or so for each school. This would adhere to the “under 50 people, and 6-feet between people” requirements of the Provincial Health Officer.
Leaving out in the in-person component also allows the seeds of discontent to be sown that could last a lifetime (some of our grandparents graduated during the Great Depression and those stories reverberated in some families for generations).
Of all the challenges for administrators to deal with during the pandemic, leaving the grads feeling the most left out of all the students is a curious level of societal risk to be taken by the current SD62 Board of Education. Sure, these grads won’t be around in SD62 after June 2020, but the psycho-social impact will linger and could possibly fester for years to come. As part of education leadership, this aspect of caring ‘beyond’ the students past June 2020 seems somehow not in the groove, hence the outcry from students and parents who (other than a bit of fuss about bus transportation in recent years) for the most part have rarely spoken up about school policy.
Though arguably, if even one person became infected with COVID-19 as a result of attending an in-person sort of graduation event, everyone would feel bad about that.
The 2020 grad video:
The pre-taped SD62 grad video will be comprised of speeches by SD62 officials, community leaders, valedictorians from each of the high schools, and a separate visual moment or two for each graduate. It will certainly be a keeper, and a reminder of something that couldn’t be.
Persistence may yet pay off:
Belmont Grade 12 student Brianna Gruber still plans to discuss possible options with Superintendent Stinson this week. She does not want to give up on her friends and peers. She says she has a few ideas that could work, as assembled by some of her fellow Grade 12 students since last week.
===== About the writer:
West Shore Voice News editor Mary Brooke has been covering the news of SD62 at the board and committee level on a regular basis since 2014. She raised her family of four through the public school system during 1995-2015, witnessing policies and changes firsthand in SD61 and SD62 as to the impact on parents and youth.
