By Sheldon Spackman

To Be Determined

School districts still uncertain how grad will look this year

Apr 1, 2021 | 1:34 PM

With thousands of central Alberta students starting to turn an eager eye to the end of the school year, officials with local school districts are starting to do the same as they prepare for graduation ceremonies.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools either held an alternative ceremony in 2020, or didn’t have one at all.

This year as the pandemic carries on, school officials are trying to make plans despite the ongoing uncertainty.

Kurt Sacher, Superintendent for Chinook’s Edge School Division, acknowledges that graduation is critically important for both students and their families, as well as school staff.

“Anything we can do to honour that Kindergarten to Grade 12 experience within our school or school division, we want to be supportive of that and our leaders want to support that,” says Sacher. “It’s just we have this pandemic and with the restrictions, it creates some nuances that we need to work through.”

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Despite that, Sacher admits their hearts are set on doing some form of celebration for graduating students.

“When the restrictions are in place, they (Chinook’s Edge staff) examine all kinds of other opportunities including going outside and seeing if an outdoor space can help support some aspect of the celebration,” adds Sacher.

“We did do that last year with some of our schools and it was very successful. But it’s so difficult for our school leaders right now because the restrictions are in flux and we just don’t know where they’re going to go. But as soon as we have clarity around the restrictions and the limits that we have to work within, I know our people will do everything they can to honour these Grade 12s and what they deserve for a celebration.

“They never deserved this. I mean nobody deserved the pandemic. It’s heartbreaking that their graduation is getting disrupted but I do have faith that our school leaders will do the best they can within those limits to serve the needs of the students.”

Wild Rose School Division Deputy Superintendent Greg Wedman says their schools will be working within whatever provincial health restrictions are in place later this spring to provide what they can for students.

Officials with Red Deer Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Wolf Creek Public Schools say they’ll have more information regarding their plans for graduation ceremonies sometime over the coming weeks.

During a Facebook Live event earlier this week, Premier Jason Kenney and Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told Albertans they were hopeful that schools would be able to move forward with grad ceremonies, provided they were outdoors.

Timing was said to be a critical component in securing those plans, with Kenney acknowledging that high schools need some parameters for a definitive answer to their questions.

“We are hopeful, based on the progress of the vaccination program, that we hope by in the month of June we will have essentially delivered first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults over the age of 18 in Alberta who want to be inoculated,” said Kenney. “That will certainly give us a strong level of initial protection. That’s why we are optimistic that we will be able to go ahead with outdoor events in the late spring and into the summer, within certain parameters.”

“I know they are very keen to ensure that graduations – which is such a critical part of the educational journey is celebrated,” added LaGrange. “School divisions are trying their best and being creative, as they were last year.”