Graduations in May are off, but Avoyelles School District considering other options

Graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 are still up in the air since the state's "stay at home" order will not even begin to be lifted until at least May 15, Avoyelles School District Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said this past week.

All school campuses are closed, with principals going in twice a week and a few employees at a time being allowed to come on campus if necessary.

Dauzat again stressed that school buildings may be closed, but the school year "has not been canceled."

He said school district officials and teachers are still working to ensure that "learning continues" during this stay-at-home period.

Dauzat started his live Facebook message on April 28 by saying he had hoped to have better news for viewers. If at least Phase I of Gov. John Bel Edwards' anti-COVID plan could have gone into effect this past Friday (May 1), it could have been possible to have in-person graduation ceremonies in June, the superintendent said.

With the Phase I "return to normalcy" not starting until May 15, the best to hope for would be late July for the traditional commencement ceremonies. The other option is to go forward to have "virtual graduations" in late May. This would involve having students come in one at a time to receive their diplomas and to have valedictorians and salutatorians deliver their speeches to an empty room. The entire procedure would be videoed and put online, he said.

Dauzat asked parents of seniors to call the high schools and relay to the principals what they would prefer for their graduating seniors.

"We will have something," he said. "We will have some sort of graduation for our seniors."

If the district opts for in-person graduations in July, then there won't be a virtual graduation in May, Dauzat said. If the in-person ceremony in July then becomes impossible, it would further delay a 2020 graduation
event.

Dauzat said he will be meeting with other officials to make a decision on how to plan for the Class of '20's big occasion.

The superintendent said he hates this has happened to the seniors who have worked so hard to get to this important event in their lives, only to have it disrupted by a health care crisis.

However, he added with a smile that the seniors of 2020 will have a great story 50 years from now when they tell their grandchildren about their senior year.

OTHER MATTERS

In other matters, Dauzat said the two-week school meal distribution continues to be popular. The district had ordered 5,000 food boxes for last week's distribution because the previous number of 2,500 was not enough.

"If we run out this time, we will just order more for the next distribution," Dauzat added.

School work packets and online resource material are also still available to help keep education continuing during the stay-at-home period. Students cannot be hurt by doing the work. It will not be graded and used to determine a final grade or promotion. Doing the work could benefit students by keeping them up to date on what they are expected to learn this year.

Dauzat said those students who were passing when the school year was cut short will not have their grade lowered by doing the work or not doing the work. Students who were in danger of failing should complete the work to give school-level officials a clearer understanding of whether they should be given the benefit of the doubt that they could have raised a failing grade to a passing one had COVID not intervened.

There have been questions concerning whether APSD will return to a five-day school week next year, Dauzat said. That decision has not been made.

However, he said it has been suggested that the schools go five days a week in August and September to help students catch up and then return to the four-day week for the rest of the school year.

Dauzat once again assured parents watching his address that their children did not lose a school year's worth of education due to schools closing in March. He said teachers will be able to cover the last 20 percent of
material from this school year when schools resume for the 2020-21 school year. If there is a new outbreak of the virus in the Fall that triggers another "stay at home" order, the situation would become much more serious, he added.

"We are doing everything we can to be better prepared, just in case something like this happens again," Dauzat assured.

Those emergency plans include providing electronic devices and working to solve Wi-Fi problems in areas of the parish so that students will be able to attend an actual virtual class from their home.

Dauzat closed his update by telling his Facebook audience that he knows they are "getting tired of this, but hang in there. If we keep doing this a little while longer, hopefully we can beat this thing and flatten the curve and get back to some normalcy."