As the end of the school year approaches and Gov. Mike Parson acknowledges that students will not return due to COVID-19, the Neelyville R-IX school district is looking at an alternative graduation.
Superintendent Debra Parish said it increasingly looks as though a traditional graduation ceremony as originally planned won’t be plausible. However, the district is still planning a recognition of graduates for May 9, when the ceremony was scheduled to be.
Parish said the valedictorian, salutatorian, principal and superintendent speeches will be video recorded. Graduating seniors are coming in one at a time to have their cap-and-gown photos taken with the principal and their diploma. They’ll also take a photo by themselves.
The videos and photos will be put together in a presentation, which will be streamed online on May 9 for families to watch at home.
“That’s not to say that down the road in the summer if things were to be all clear that we might have something here in the gym,” Parish said. “But for May 9 — if we’re not able to which, at this point, realistically, I don’t see how we’ll be able to unless something drastically changes between now and then – this just gives us an alternative.”