Greenfield High School Considering Weekend Graduation

Updated Dec. 1: The Greenfield School District announced Dec. 1 it has set its Greenfield High School graduation date as Saturday, June 9.

In an effort to make graduation more convenient for students, families and staff, the is considering moving its high school commencement ceremony to a Saturday.

The high school has traditionally held graduation on a Wednesday, the last day of final exams. But the mid-week ceremony causes issues, according to first-year principal .

“There are many, many bonuses in making this move and really no drawbacks,” Thusius said.

The most substantial problem now is determining student eligibility for graduation. The final exam of the semester ends at 11 a.m. and graduation practice is held at 11:30 a.m. According to a memo from Thusius to the School Board, some students have to be removed from graduation practice if it is determined they failed an exam.

A Wednesday graduation causes other problems for students and teachers, from students being unable to rehearse because they are retaking an exam to teachers being under tight time constraints to grade final exams before rehearsal.

A Saturday graduation moves the turnaround time between final exams and the ceremony to two days instead of a few hours, possibly allowing students to do what is necessary during that extra time to change their graduation status, according to Thusius.

In addition, a weekend ceremony – a suggested time was 2 p.m. Saturday – would allow for families to make arrangements for out-of-town guests more easily, and be generally more convenient than 6 p.m. after a workday.

Thusius said a majority of schools in the Woodland Conference already have weekend graduation ceremonies.

According to the memo, Thusius indicated there would be no issues with contracted services being unavailable on a weekend or staff participation at the event, and said parents who are anticipating a Wednesday graduation will have seven months to make other arrangements.