As the end of the school year nears, how high school graduations will look amid COVID-19 is starting to take shape.
At District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) schools, there is a split between physical distancing and virtual ceremonies.
In an update to trustees on the ceremonies at this week's DSB1 meeting, director of education Lesleigh Dye gave a glimpse into a physically distanced ceremony being planned at Timmins High and Vocational School.
She said they have permission for 150 vehicles to be at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex across the street from the high school.
A company with a large inflatable screen has been hired, and she said they have a sound system that broadcasts through the FM radio.
"Every person who participates in the drive-in graduation needs to have done the screening that our health units are supporting and so there’s a questionnaire that one needs to fill out. The only people that are allowed to come out of their vehicles are the graduates and they will be coming out three at a time, they’ll be lining up two metres apart and they will be crossing some form of a podium/stage, I’m not sure exactly what sort of safe structure will be in place," she explained.
"They will pick up a diploma, again we’re not touching a diploma in a hand to the hand of a student. The student will go back to their vehicle and then other students will come forward. There would also be the valedictorian, greetings from the board and the awards and scholarships."
The other schools in the board planning a social distancing graduation are Englehart High School, where Dye said they are planning a vehicle parade through the community, Ecole Secondaire Cochrane High School, Hearst High School, and Timiskaming District Secondary School.
Virtual ceremonies are planned for College Link, Iroquois Falls Secondary School, Kapuskasing District High School, Kiskinohamatowin, Kirkland Lake District Composite School, PACE, and Roland Michener Secondary School.
For schools opting for virtual, a face-to-face celebration would be held at a later date, when it's safe to do so.
There are two health units DSB1 is working with — the Porcupine Health Unit, and Timiskaming Health Unit.
For the Porcupine Health Unit's region, the last confirmed COVID-19 case was reported May 10. It is following one known active case of the virus.
The last positive tests in the Timiskaming area were done at the end of April, with all 18 of the confirmed cases there being resolved.
Trustee Doug Shearer is disappointed that some schools aren't doing a social distancing graduation.
"I would just want to point out that we’ve now been weeks without another case of COVID in our board area and point out that if this were to stay the same, come the end of August we’d be five months without any kind of impact from COVID and there are facilities where even if it’s just the students, social distancing could occur to let them walk across the stage,” he said.
Dye said families have indicated they want something in June.
Having scholarships announced then also lets students plan financially.
School adminstration was asked to work with students in April to tailor the graduations to what students at each school were requesting.
“Each of our schools have really worked hard with their students to have the student voice represented and this is what our students are really sharing back with us,” Dye said.
