Facing student and parent opposition, CMS decides how Class of 2020 will graduate
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will host virtual, pre-recorded graduations in addition to drive-through ceremonies for seniors to pick up their diplomas, the district announced Tuesday.
Each school will organize an in-person celebration when COVID-19 restrictions allow, the district said.
The cancellation of in-person ceremonies, a response to the coronavirus pandemic, is a disappointment to numerous families and students in CMS, many of whom voiced their frustrations to the board during its Tuesday meeting.
But Superintendent Earnest Winston said that given considerations of safety and guidance from state and local officials regarding social distancing and large gatherings, holding traditional in-person graduations is no longer feasible.
“This is the first graduation that I’ll oversee as superintendent, and I wish with all my heart that it could be a traditional one,” Winston said. “But the safety of our graduates, their families and our staff must come first. Unfortunately, it has been apparent since the COVID-19 pandemic began that we would not be able to celebrate the Class of 2020 in a traditional way.”
Wake County, the state’s largest district, announced last week it also would shift to virtual graduations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CMS sent out a survey to seniors last week to seek feedback on possible options for graduation. The three options involved a virtual, prerecorded ceremony that would include traditional components such as an address from the valedictorian and salutatorian.
Graduation options criticized
The uniform options prompted criticism from students and families. A petition for CMS to provide wider options for graduation drew nearly 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday. Suggestions from the petition included a graduation at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, like Cabarrus County; ceremonies at each school’s football field; or using Bank of America Stadium with social distancing.
“Looking at the survey made me very angry,” Ashley Adam, a CMS senior, told board members. “(My peers) felt like the survey was a slap to the face.”
The district has about 10,000 graduating seniors each year, and more than 100,000 guests attend CMS graduations. The size of CMS’s graduating classes, which range from 275 to 790, as well as the large number of high schools, limited the options for the district, officials said.
While Cabarrus County Schools will host drive-in graduations at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the district has 10 high schools with much smaller class sizes. CMS officials said they explored using both the speedway and the stadium, but they couldn’t secure either option due to safety considerations.
CMS also considered hosting drive-through graduations using existing venue parking lots, but concluded that the length of time needed for some ceremonies — ranging from 4 1/2 hours to more than 13 hours — made it logistically difficult.
The task force formed by CMS to evaluate graduation options received over 800 responses from the public for ceremony suggestions, but safety considerations limited possible options.
“A virtual graduation wasn’t something that seniors wanted as a whole,” said Dream Allen, task force member and Rocky River High senior, in a district press release. “But being on the task force and being told all the safety measures and guidelines that must be followed, it made sense to everyone that a virtual graduation was the best option.”
Gabe Schuhl, the CMS board’s elected student representative, said while there’s no point in “sugarcoating” the disappointment for seniors, safety for students and staff is a reality that limited the district’s options.
“If we could stop one person from (getting sick), that feels like a pretty logical conclusion we should all be able to agree on,” he said.
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