All schools to hold graduation on regularly scheduled dates

Published 10:37 am Wednesday, May 13, 2020

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All Covington County schools will hold a graduation ceremony next week as they originally scheduled.

On Wed., May 20, Opp High School will have their class picture and graduation practice at 8:30 a.m., with a virtual class day at 1 p.m.

On Thu., May 21, OHS graduation will be held at Channell-Lee Stadium, at 9 a.m., in accordance with health and public safety guidelines, including social distancing.

Graduates are allowed eight guests. Students should arrive by 8:30 a.m., and park on Jeffcoat Ave., at the back gate.

At graduation practice, all graduates will receive eight wristbands for guest admittance. All eight guests will be seated in a pod, a section assigned by the random number selected by the students. All guests will be required to sit with their family in their assigned pod so that social distancing can be maintained.

Entrance and exit gates will be assigned to guests. In case of rain, graduation will be moved to the auditorium at OHS. In this case, the number of guests may have to be reduced to allow for appropriate social distancing indoors.

Andalusia High School will hold their commencement exercises on Thu., May 21, at 10 a.m., at the football stadium.

On Mon., May 18, seniors can begin to pick up their cap and gowns from AHS.

On Wed., May 20, there will be a graduation practice at 7 p.m.

Since it is not a traditional ceremony in the auditorium, there will be limited seating, with seniors having eight tickets that they can distribute to family.

“This is our staff’s first pandemic and things for us have been changing sometimes hourly,” ACS superintendent Ted Watson said. “With the new guidelines from the governor, we wanted to make sure that we could have it where more family could come support these seniors because they deserve it.”

Graduation ceremonies for Florala High School will take place on Fri., May 22, at 6 p.m.

The ceremony will be held in the gym and graduates will be allotted a number of tickets to invite guests. No one will be allowed in unless they have a ticket.

Seniors will need to report to the high school on Mon., May 18, at 10 a.m., for graduation practice.

Red Level High School graduation is scheduled for Thu., May 21, at 7:30 p.m., in the gym.

“There will be some modifications made to our graduation exercises this year due to the need for continued social distancing,” RLHS vice principal Joseph Carter said. “Gov. Ivey’s last order made it possible for us to have a more traditional ceremony. A major change from previous years is the need to control the number of attendees and seating arrangements. We have looked at several scenarios and layouts to determine which one would allow us the opportunity to have a larger number of family and friends attend. We will be issuing 10 tickets to each senior to distribute. Limiting the number in this manner allows us a maximum number of attendees per graduate. The policy of the use of tickets will be strictly monitored in order to meet state regulations for capacity ordered by Governor Ivey. We cannot alter these in any way thus each attendee must have his ticket in hand to enter.

It is my sincere hope seniors, family and friends understand the unique circumstances we face and the modifications we have been required to implement. We will continue to post relevant information as soon as possible. Thank you.”

Pleasant Home School graduation is scheduled for Thu., May 21, at 6 p.m.

Straughn High School graduation ceremonies are scheduled for Fri., May 22, at 7:30 p.m., at the football stadium. More details will be given to the seniors.