Principal Ballard Hosts Senior Meeting to Discuss Prom and Graduation

On Tuesday, April 29 Principal Crystal Ballard hosted a graduation meeting to discuss and answer questions that students had about the upcoming event.

The meeting was supposed to start at 10:35 am and go through 10:55 am, but with an influx of questions from students in the comments, the meeting lasted ten minutes past the original time. 

Two graduation options were presented to students during the Google Meet. The first option was one large graduation where all seniors could bring two guests. The second option, and one favored by seniors, would have two graduations, allowing for up to four guests per graduate. 

After voting on which choice seniors wanted, it was decided there will be two separate graduations both on June 3. There will be an email sent out by Principal Ballard after first block on May 3 where seniors can pick between either a 10 am and 1 pm graduation time on a first-come-first-serve basis through a Google Form.

Seniors attending Prom have also raised concerns that if they don’t get their choice of the 10 am graduation, there won’t be ample time to prepare for Prom later that day.

Administrators were worried that if COVID-19 cases do increase, either Prom or graduation would be canceled. To circumvent this issue, they’ve decided to have both Prom and graduation on June 3.

After Principal Ballard clarified confusion surrounding Prom, there were several other dates shared with students.

Administrators recommend seniors transition to distance learning after May 17 so HHS can minimize contact tracing for graduation two weeks later. And although distance learning begins May 17, the last school day for seniors is officially May 28, following in the path of previous years where they’ll finish a week earlier than sophomores and juniors. 

Today on Friday, April 30 there will be another meeting via Google from 11:00-11:30 for students who weren’t able to attend yesterday.