Merced County high school goes against health rules for in-person graduation, draws 200

Stone Ridge Christian High School held an in-person graduation ceremony Thursday night at Castle Field, which is the school’s football field located on Castle Air Force Base.

SRC Head of School Mike Henjum estimated about 200 people were in attendance at the ceremony, counting school staff. He also said the school sought out guidance from community leaders on how to hold the gathering.

Merced County Health Department’s current coronavirus pandemic guidelines limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people. The state also has similar guidelines for public gatherings.

According to the small private school, which only has an enrollment of 126 students, strict safety guidelines were followed during the event that honored their graduating class of 25 seniors.

“Our mission is to (be) God-centered and student-focused in all that we do,” Henjum said.

“In order to do this, we wanted to celebrate the accomplishments of our students as a community. After surveying all of our parents and getting their input, it was an obvious choice to hold a ceremony. The pride, joy and thankfulness from our students and families were confirmation that we made the correct decision.”

According to the school, attendance to the event was limited to members of the immediate household, faculty, staff and board members. Each senior was given eight tokens to hand out to their guests. A token was needed to be submitted by each person to enter the event.

Each group was then escorted to their assigned seats, which were spread out on the football field and in the bleachers.

According to Henjum, the school’s mitigation plan followed Centers for Disease and Control guidelines, limited guests to members of student household and faculty/staff, included proper social distancing and guidelines for parking.

He also said much of the ceremony was recorded to limit the number of live speakers. Plus it included extensive safety training for volunteers, masks for all attendees, specific guidelines for families and graduates entering and exiting the facility and assigned seating.

“The school contacted multiple community leaders and organizations to seek guidance on how to conduct a safe event,” Henjum said.

Merced County Supervisor Daron McDaniel confirmed he was contacted by the school and had conversations with them last week.

“My advice to them was to follow what the high school district is doing and follow the guidelines,” McDaniel said. “Last I talked to them was last week so I didn’t know if they were going through with it.”

When told there may be up to 200 people attending prior to the ceremony on Thursday afternoon, McDaniel’s response was, “Whoa.”

On Friday after talking to the school, he felt the event could have been pulled off safely.

“My impression is if they can social distance, and do it in a safe way, I think that’s being responsible,” McDaniel said. “I wasn’t there, but if it was done in a safe way, I congratulate them. Graduation is a once in a lifetime experience for these seniors.”

McDaniel said that when he talked with the school last week he suggested they go through Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke and the Merced County Public Health Department.

Warnke said the school reached out to him, but he was under the impression they were conducting a drive-thru ceremony, which many other Merced County high schools are planning.

During a drive-thru ceremony, students drive up to a stage in a vehicle, get out to accept a diploma, pose for pictures and then get back in the vehicle and drive away.

Henjum said the school did not contact the Merced County Public Health Department to make them aware of their graduation ceremony.

“After consulting with several community leaders, we were confident that we could host a safe event that also honored our graduates,” Henjum said.

Merced County Health Officer Dr. Salvador Sandoval said other high schools have approached the health department about graduation ceremonies.

“There was a joint letter that went out on May 15 that was signed by (superintendent of schools for Merced County) Steve Tiejten and I cosigned it with him,” Dr. Sandoval said. “It was recommending against graduation congregations like what happened at Stone Ridge.

“What we’ve done with other schools. We’ve worked cooperatively with them and we’ve had invitations of up to 20 at a time with their family members, usually two to three people.”

Sandoval said they’ve recommended the drive-thru graduation ceremonies for other schools in Merced County.

Stone Ridge Christian senior Brooke Wareham said she felt safe during the graduation ceremony.

“We did it as a safely as possible,” said Wareham, who is headed to UC Merced next year. “We didn’t shake hands. It was definitely stranger than what we have all seen before, but I felt completely safe.”

After having so many school events, sports and activities canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Wareham was happy to experience her graduation ceremony.

“I guess it’s one of the perks of going to a small school,” she said. “We all know each other. Even though we were divided, sitting 6 feet apart, we were still all together. The feeling of actually walking across that stage gave me the sense of completion. It was a very satisfying feeling. Everyone was proud of us.”

It’s unclear whether the school could face any penalties. Warnke recently wrote a letter to the state saying he would not be taking enforcement action in Merced County for any COVID-19 “violations.”