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High School Graduation Ceremonies Set

Hitchcock County Graduation is June 20

The Hitchcock County Class of 2020 will get their day in the sun on Saturday, June 20.

Quite literally, they will get to be in the sun during a gradua- tion ceremony hosted by the school at the high school track and football complex at the Pow Wow Grounds in Trenton.

The ceremony starts at 9am and it NOT open to the public.

Each graduate can have up to 18 guests at the event. The names of those guests have to be provided to school for them to be allowed at the event. The number of guests is based on the occupancy level in the grandstands at the football field.

Superintendent Robert Sattler says there will be people at the gates and guests will be ushered to their sitting area. He said people will be sitting in groups of six, per the health department directed health measures. Social distancing of the graduates, who will have chairs on the track, and the groups of six people in the stands, will also follow social distancing guidelines. There will be no restroom facilities open at the football field.

Sattler said the program will last about 45-minutes and will follow the usual program except there will be no band and no videopresentation. The honor speeches and a short flower presentations will take place. The school plans on streaming the event on their Facebook page. People will be directed on how they will dismiss at the end of the event in an orderly fashio

 

DCS Graduation is June 27

The Dundy County Stratton Class of 2020 will get their chance to walk across the stage in a graduation ceremony.

The DCS Board of Education voted to have the school host a high school graduation ceremony at the high school gym in Ben-kelman at 9:00 A.M. on Saturday, June 27.

The action was taken during the board’s regular meeting on Monday night at the high school gym.

It was the first time the Board of Education was able to meet together since March.

The Board met for the regular meetings in April and May via computer due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The State of Nebraska relaxed social gathering restrictions enough to allow public boards to meet in person again this month. Boards still have to meet social distancing guidelines, which resulted in the meeting taking place in the gym where people could be separated by 6-feet of space. Board members and school administration sat at individual tables that were separated by 6-feet of space. Patrons in the audience were also socially distanced and had to sit in specific bleacher seats.

There were a number of district patrons who attended the meeting. The parents of several Class of 2020 seniors spoke about their support of having a graduation ceremony during the public comment agenda at the start of the meeting.

In order to host a graduation ceremony, the school has to prepare a documented plan for the event and have it approved by the Southwest Nebraska Public Health District. The school must follow social distancing and gathering guidelines set out by state directive health measures.

The final number of people who will be able to attend the gradation ceremony has not been finalized. The final number and social distancing guidelines will be strictly enforced. During the board discussion on holding a graduation ceremony School Superintendent Jim Kent said he expects that each student will be able to have around six people at the event, but that number has not been finalized.

He explained that per the current directed health measures there can be a group of six people in a 15-sqare-foot area and those groups have to be 6-feet apart. Those small groups could be families of the graduates. There is enough room in the gym that all 27-graduates would be able to have a group of six family members sit together. In addition, the 27-graduates will also have to be individually separated by 6-feet of space. Kent said that will likely take up half the gym floor. The graduation ceremony will be live streamed on the STRIV.

Kent said the school has to follow the public health directives as there is a liability issue for the school if it doesn’t.

During the graduation ceremony each senior will walk across the stage one at a time to receive their diploma. The ceremony will also include the class video tribute. There will be no band and choir performances. Speeches could take place.

Kent said that it would take a few days to put the graduation ceremony plan together and have it approved by SWNPHD. Once that process is complete more information about the event, how many people will be able to attend, and social distancing guidelines for those in attendance will be available.

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