Vernon Grad Options: Would Drive-In Movie Type Ceremony Work?

VERNON, CT — With Gov. Ned Lamont officially ordering school buildings closed for the duration of the 2019-20 academic year, Vernon school system administrators are staying with the mid-June finishing date for online learning and pondering whether the drive-in graduation concept will fly after one of the latest executive decrees out of Hartford.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph Macary was clear on Tuesday that the drive-in concept was just one option. Another is waiting until, say, July to have a traditional graduation ceremony. He is currently considering opinions on what to do when school ends on June 17.

Macary said a conference call between municipal education officials and state education officials on tapor Wednesday.

One idea being bantered about is setting up the Rockville High School parking lot to resemble a drive-in theater with a podium rather than a screen. Speeches could be piped in via a public address system or through an FM frequency, officials said.

Grads could pick up their diplomas via a drive-up system, similar to last week's budget vote, Macary said.

Macary described it as a fun atmosphere. He is also gauging the opinion of seniors and parents on waiting until the summer and perhaps less-stringent public gathering rules that could allow a traditional ceremony, albeit in the summer.

But those public gathering rules have thrown an cloud of ambiguity over the whole drive-in concept. On Friday, in an executive order strewn with complicated language, Lamont essentially told municipalities not to follow Vernon's lead on budget votes and not have town meetings at all.

"We will try to get some clear direction on that," Macary said. "We think the drive-in concept could work and will be talking with the students and the parents about our options."

See more about Vernon's drive-up meetng efforts here.

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In other school system news, Joshua Egan was named the new Maple Street School principle last week. Egan was the assistant principal at Center Road School and the math coordinator for grades K through 8.

That leaves two vacancies that are posted: Egan's CRS position and the teaching and learning coordinator for the middle and high schools, Macary said.