Friday May 22, 2020 ~ LANGFORD, BC | WEST SHORE
Analysis by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
After a bit of concern expressed among Grade 12 graduating students and their families about feeling cast-off for official graduation ceremonies during COVID-19, the Sooke School District (SD62) has now responded with a blended approach.
The school district serving over 11,000 students in the west shore and Sooke will still pursue their video production commitment for their grad class of nearly 1,000 teens. Production of a commemorative video will still proceed and be available to all families at no charge. But now — after a student-led petition and various threads of messaging by the Ministry of Education, the premier, and local media — there will also be an opportunity for photos of grads to be taken receiving their diploma in real time at their school.
The announcement was made in a social media post on Wednesday afternoon May 20 at 3:15 pm… sort of like just after the school bell at the end of a school day. The two-minute posting was headed up “Message to 2020 Grads! Superintendent Scott Stinson has a message that 2020 grads have been waiting to hear!” | Watch live video on Facebook.
Pressures were mounting:
SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson had been faced with pressures from all sides in this matter. His primary concern was and still is of course the safety of students. But there was undoubtedly also the liability of the school district and its trustees if anyone at a grad event were to be impacted by community spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Given the physical distancing challenges of COVID-19 provincial health orders, Stinson initially and fairly quickly made a natural choice to ‘go virtual’ (the way most of the business world and connected community is doing during the pandemic).
Back on April 28, the superintendent had still not announced the video project, but it seemed to have already been in the works and under debate with board input, as SD62 Board Chair Ravi Parmar said during the SD62 public board meeting in response to a question from West Shore Voice News: “We are not going to be making any decisions lightly and it’s going to be with the mindset of what we can do to support our Grade 12’s to ensure that they get the support they need in terms of graduation ceremonies.”
“We are not going to be making any decisions lightly and it’s going to be with the mindset of what we can do to support our Grade 12’s to ensure that they get the support they need in terms of graduation ceremonies,” said Parmar.
Then on May 7, SD62 Superintendent announced the production of a video featuring speakers and a bit about each grad.
A bit of palpable ‘shock and stun’ rolled immediately outward in many directions from that decision. It was not really a surprise that digital Internet-based media would be a go-to option. But there was disconsternation over what was perceived and felt as a lack of trying to do the best possible thing. Students and their parents were expecting something that would feel more authentic while still understandably getting around the physical distancing aspect of things. They were looking for some creativity and a bit of elbow grease even so amidst an infectious pandemic, and for the right reasons.
As an interesting note, Parmar said that the review process was to have included engaging with student district council, and other groups. One wonders how the student representatives (a small, unelected set of students — one from each school, but nothing formal) were unsuccessful in speaking up for their peers.
It ended up being a petition online by one Belmont Grade 12 student Brianna Gruber, with the support of a few friends, that put some heat under SD62 administration.
Getting some media attention:
Sticking to his guns over the physical distancing orders, Stinson did not relent even as the petition got the attention of local media including TV and this West Shore Voice News stream. The petition launched on May 7 was led by some Grade 12 students at the large Belmont Secondary School in Langford.
The petition also achieved resonance with Belmont parents, and presumably as well with the graduating-year students at the other two major high schools in the SD62 west shore region (Royal Bay Secondary in Colwood and Edward Milne Community School in Sooke) who kind of watched from afar.
With persistence from West Shore Voice News, on May 13 Stinson replied that the video production would continue but that other options would only be considered if things changed with directions from the Provincial Health Officer regarding physical distancing.
Politics in the mix:
In the days that followed, Premier John Horgan said in a live media conference (on May 15) that on that one day each year at past grad events he has seen a glimpse of the full array of people’s lifepaths in that one moment… for all the directions in careers and in life that they will travel.
And Education Minister Rob Fleming — while at first sticking to his compassionate but effectively ‘so sad, but too bad’ approach (to what he declared back on March 17 would be the full cancellation of June 2020 graduation ceremonies), did eventually oversee a Ministry statement to West Shore Voice News on May 18 saying: “Each public or independent school will be celebrating the success of their Grade 12 learners in a way that aligns with the culture and tradition of their local community. We’ve been hearing lots of interesting ideas on how schools will do this from around B.C.”
“We know that schools and school districts are approaching graduation this year through innovative and creative ideas that still respect physical distancing and public health measures, such as virtual online ceremonies.”
That was after Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry had said on May 15 that she hoped teachers and grad-year students would reconnect in June:
“reconnect with friends and teachers in a safe way”. That opened the door for some movement.
Dancing with disposability:
Clearly during this incredibly challenging time of adaptation to the impacts of COVID-19 on the school system (and all of its stakeholders including trustees, administration, principals and vice-principals, teachers, CUPE support staff, parents and students), not having to deal with the minutia of producing individualized physically-distanced mini-events for almost 1,000 graduating students would have been the easiest option.
Saving time for other important things — like the myriad of tasks and processes toward stabilizing an entire K-12 system toward June test-run and September re-opening — was certainly a lure for SD62 senior administration. And in that context the professional video production (handed off to a hired third-party) was a smart management move. But something about that could not be fully accepted by graduates and their parents, who had legitimate reason to feel that they just weren’t getting the effort that their hard work of 13 years in the public school system deserved.
Sticking to ‘just a video’ was becoming a dance with disposability for SD62. Could they get away with that, when the metaphorical ‘dance partner’ was the entire rest of the community?
Full community impacts of Grade 12 Graduation:
While many people may feel in the modern age that walking across a stage in cap and gown is a bit staid and stuffy, the bigger messaging of that day sets lives in motion for the long run.
It’s the last time the full class will be together, which even for students with a less than happy high school experience will be impactful. It’s a snapshot of where each person in that group of youth is heading into their adult years of goals, dreams and accomplishments.
It’s an earmarked moment of pride for parents and families who will soon quickly experience a period of grief at what often feels like the sudden finality of their child’s youth. Separation anxiety that often follows.
It’s a moment, too, for teachers, vice principals and principals, to appreciate their own work toward that day and take pride in the accomplishments of the youth they’ve been charged with guiding up close for many years.
For the school itself it is a look-good, feel-good moment — a benchmark each year of where the school is heading.
And for the community as a whole there is more importance to that day than they often realize. Even if they never attend a graduation ceremony, these grads become their future workers and their comrades as participants in adult civic society; the broader community is pulsing along with this group of graduating youth at a socioeconomic primal level. It is actually quite profound.
Avoiding the worst of difficult options:
For an event with this overall import to even feel like it was a cast-off during a moment of duress had all the danger signs of being a bad thing. The handling of a truly massive number of processes and details by the school district during the endless series of adjustments in response to COVID-19 may have seemed an overwhelming backdrop upon which to also plan a large-scale graduation ceremony.
But in the grand scheme of things it is just a moment. Complexity, hard work, time-constrained — all of it, to be sure. But the scenario barked loudly for doing the right thing.
Rising to the occasion:
So this week, in finally deciding to broaden the grad event experience in June, SD62 rose to the opportunity to be as inclusive with grads as they purport to be in all of their decision-making.
There is a thread to be explored for how this school district and the K-12 system in general in BC leaves the apparently capable and bright students to fend for themselves in many ways, amidst a sensitized focus on the needs of those who are most obviously vulnerable. In a future editorial there will be an exploration of how the high/bright end of the spectrum has its own set of vulnerabilities which should not be underserved by educational leadership.
But now it has all come together. Grad 2020 will indeed be memorable, but with a fighting chance of that being void of the disappointment of feeling underserved or left out. ‘No one left behind’ is the purported ethos of many aspects of the west shore, but it is not always cleanly achieved.
But today May 22 it feels a bit repaired. And the petition organizer posted on the Change.org site her thanks, saying “I’m so happy we now get to have a grad that we all deserve!!”
Here’s how it will roll out:
As Superintendent Stinson outlined the additional year-end offering for Grade 12 grads, in his announcement on May 20: “Small groups of students coming to the school, remaining physically distant in the theatre/auditorium and being called to the stage one by one to pick up their graduation folders/packages, pose for a professional photograph and return to their seats.”
Those events will take place in the last week of school, June 22 to 25, during regular school hours. Family members cannot be present “as we still need to adhere to group size restrictions”, said Stinson. But SD62 will provide a digital copy of a professional photograph for each student who participates, free of charge.
Accepting a reasonable outcome:
SD62 students did not expect the usual large auditorium-style grad ceremony event during COVID-19, especially as they were given plenty of warning about that by the Education Minister and PHO in March.
But for the sadness and disconnect that Grade 12s have been feeling for two months since then, these adaptations by SD62 demonstrate thoughts and actions in the right direction. It is evidence of a good result of process among administration, students, parents, community leaders, and media.
Graduation combo-platter – video and live-action photos:
Stinson wrapped up to students: “We are still moving forward with a graduation video to ensure all students are represented and so you can hear the speeches from dignitaries as well as your valedictorians and historians.”
Each school is organizing their celebrations. Students will hear directly from their school with details. That includes students at each of Belmont Secondary School, Royal Bay Secondary School, Edward Milne Community School, and Westshore Centre for Learning and Training.
Eager parents have been advised by SD62: “While we understand that parents may want to help out with planning etc, we encourage you to focus on your celebrations at home.”
“Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate the ever-changing guidelines while working to celebrate your achievement in a safe and responsible way,” said Superintendent Stinson.
The video release date has not been set yet. It will be livestreamed and “posted where appropriate”. The video will not have a cost to families associated with it.
The video will feature each school’s valedictorian and historian (two student leaders chosen to represent the Class of 2020).
Now many weeks in the works, videos will include leadership messages, including from SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson, SD62 Board chair Ravi Parmar, the mayors of the local municipalities (including Langford, Colwood and Sooke), local MLAs, indigenous elders and others as determined by each school. Community and elected leaders generally expect and benefit by the annual graduation event exposure, for themselves and their sectors. Their inclusion from the start is now balanced by some ‘moments in the sun’ for each grad with their ‘altered but happening’ real-time grad moment.
Will there be a printed yearbook for each school?
And while it seems suddenly a pre-COVID throwback to the past, the status of each school’s printed yearbook — if these keepsakes make it to completion — is yet to be announced.
Tossing wildly toward the new normal:
COVID-19 has upset the apple cart of life for each individual, family, organization, and community. Grade 12s were never unaware of the dire circumstances of the pandemic and their expectation for ‘more than a video’ should never have been dismissed. They were right to stick up for as full as possible a recognition of their achievements. Doing that successfully has generated reflection for everyone involved in this episode, and for the grad class themselves they can now truly have a grad year to remember with some pride, instead of just the natural disappointment that comes as part of this ‘once in a 100-year’ period of history.
On the broadest level — for anyone still wondering about the extra work and cost of making the best possible effort for a happy grad moment — think about the impact of those people who graduated during the Great Depression in 1929-1933. They took it in stride (no choice in that), but their dashed hopes enacted by the greed of the wealthy class (which led to the stock market crash) stung with a permanent poison. The shock of it all impacted their relationships, their career opportunities, their families at the time and their children years later. The social and health costs associated with denial of opportunity are powerfully insidious.
Arriving at taking some risk with heartfelt leadership within SD62 to find a way to avert those unseen, unknown, but assuredly real outcomes that are immeasurable and uncountable can be a point of pride for families in the west shore as well as SD62 itself. COVID-19 hit us all by complete surprise, but in this case of Grad Season in SD62 the ball got caught and thrown back into the game.