The DeKalb County School District has announced plans for virtual graduation ceremonies for seniors in June, as well as plans for possible in-person ceremonies to take place later in the summer.
Senior Week began Monday across the district, with students receiving yearbooks, caps and gowns and other items ahead of their official graduation on Friday.
Graduations were scheduled to take place later this month before the coronavirus pandemic closed school buildings and forced shelter-in-place orders in Georgia and across the country.
The district posted end-of-year guidelines on April 14, which included plans to end the school year early and possibly have in-person graduations in June. Seniors ended classes on Friday; Other DeKalb County School District students will end virtual learning later this week.
“Based on current guidance from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies, we are unable to host graduation ceremonies face-to-face for June,” Superintendent Ramona Tyson said in a message to parents.
She said the district has been planning two graduation ceremonies based off guidance from health agencies and the results of a senior survey about their desires as to how the year should end.
Tyson and her team pivoted early in the virtual learning period that began March 12 to make sure seniors had all the resources available to them to get on, or stay on, the path to graduation. A mother to two DeKalb students, including a current senior, she said in March that she understood firsthand the importance of keeping all students engaged.
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