City cancels beach graduations
NORWALK — The city’s public schools have changed graduation plans.
The school district has canceled drive-in graduation ceremonies for Norwalk and Brien McMahon high schools that were planned for next month at Calf Pasture Beach. Each school will instead have its own drivethrough graduation, the district announced Monday.
“Plans to reopen the state have been modified, with the expansion of indoor dining put on ‘pause,’ while other states continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases,” the school district said in a statement. “With all this in mind, we have made the decision to change our plans for drive-in graduation at the beach . ... Like you, we had all hoped that the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis would no longer be an issue this summer. But while our state has been a nationwide leader in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, we know that this public health threat is still active. Our goal is always to keep the health and safety of our students and staff in mind.”
The district said its decision was partially related to 25 coronavirus cases linked to a similar drive-in graduation in Chappaqua, N.Y. According to lohud.com, students at the June 20 graduation did not socially distance and also attended non-school sanctioned events following the ceremony that officials said led to the spread of the virus.
The original Norwalk plan to hold graduation at the beach was based on feedback the district received from a survey sent to high school seniors. The plan was to hold a drive-in beach graduation for Brien McMahon and Norwalk high schools at Calf Pasture Beach while students from The Center for Global Studies and P-TECH Norwalk would hold graduations on campus. Students and families would stay in their cars, but there would be a chance for speakers and for students to receive their diplomas.
CGS and P-Tech students will now participate with fellow graduates at Brien McMahon and Norwalk high schools. The dates for the ceremonies will remain the same with Norwalk High and P-Tech students on Aug. 3 with an Aug. 5 rain date and Brien McMahon and CGS on Aug. 4 with an Aug. 6 rain date.
A spokeswoman for the district said the August dates were chosen last month based on health projections that it would be safe then to hold in-person ceremonies.