Graduation safety procedures in place to hold in-person ceremony on May 17

Avery Cook
eSomethin Staff

In the midst of a global pandemic, Perrysburg High School is trying to bring back some semblance of normalcy by holding its annual graduation ceremony in-person on May 17.

An email from school principal Michael Short was sent Monday, April 27, stating the new rules and procedures for the ceremony:

“This is traditionally a time of celebration, anticipation for the future, and nervous excitement. As with everything we have been experiencing as a result of this serious health issue, life has changed for all of us,” Short said.

As listed in the email, the new guidelines for the graduation ceremony are:

Students will be individually assigned a specific time slot to enter the high school beginning at approximately 1 p.m.
Up to four guests from a student’s immediate household may attend.
Students will enter the high school on the far north side of the building off of Ft. Meigs road.
School officials will check students and guests in and check temperatures; those with a temperature of 100.4 or higher will not be permitted into the building.
All attendees will be expected to wear a face mask throughout their time in the building. (The school will not provide masks. Graduates will be permitted to remove the mask for pictures on the stage.)
A queue allowing for appropriate social distancing will form from the north entrance to the doors of the auditorium.
Seniors will proceed from the left side of the auditorium to the stage.
Guests of each student will move to the front row to participate in the event and will be allowed to take pictures.
On stage: the student’s name is announced, the student walks to the middle of the stage, receives a diploma cover, pauses for a picture with a school official (who will be staged at least six feet away), proceeds to the opposite side of the stage, exits the stage to the art hallway.
The student and guests turn left for a posed, professional photograph.
Students and guests will move down the hall to pick up their diploma, and “cleaned” laptop.

The graduation ceremony is completely optional for students and families. In a time when health and safety are the top priority, PHS would never put students or their families in harm’s way. This ceremony is an altered option for the graduating seniors of the class of 2020 to have a graduation ceremony on the date it was originally planned for.

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