ST. PAUL - St. Paul Education Regional Division (SPERD) has officially postponed all graduation ceremonies for the 2019/20 school year, which means no convocation ceremonies will take place until after the end of June.
During a meeting held on April 29, the board unanimously agree there was no other choice but to cancel graduation ceremonies.
Board chair Heather Starosielski, whose daughter is among the 2020 Mallaig School graduates, spoke as both a parent and board chair. She acknowledged that many of the Grade 12 students were likely going through a bit of a grieving process, and families have been aware that the postponement of graduation ceremonies was a possibility.
Throughout the discussion, it was affirmed that while ceremonies had to be postponed, there would be a formal recognition of students' accomplishments held at some point, though details on how that would be done had not been decided.
Superintendent Glen Brodziak acknowledged there is a lot of planning that takes a lot of time to put together graduation celebrations. He also recommended the division honour graduates how it always has, and not opt to hold virtual graduations.
Brodziak also spoke about how felt it could be beneficial to do something uniform across the division to honour the graduates this spring.
"In some respects, we're one school right now," said Brodziak, adding, the division does want to honour graduating students in some way, this school year.
Starosielski asked if principals would engage with students and families to get feedback on what they would like to see happen this spring. She noted it's a "huge milestone" and the graduates should have some say in what is done. She also noted there are vast differences between classes in the division, with some schools having a dozen graduating students, and St. Paul Regional High School having close to 100.
When Brodziak asked for direction from the board on how to proceed, Starosielski said she would want to hear what ideas are being discussed at all school sites.
"I would like to hear what they are considering," said, speaking to the various ways graduates could be celebrated this spring.
When speaking about uniformity across the division, Trustee Christopher Cook noted that doing the same thing across the division may impede the ability for schools to celebrate their uniqueness and display the school's culture.
It was also pointed out that the division would have to be reasonable with costs when planning anything this year, considering the intent was to still hold convocation ceremonies as soon as it was safe to do so in the fall, or even in 2021.
A motion to postpone all graduation ceremonies for 2019/20 school year was carried.
