Officials: No high school graduations before July 1

ARKANSAS — Arkansas officials are extending caution about graduation ceremonies as the school year nears its end.

There will be no traditional high school graduation ceremonies in the state before July 1, officials announced Saturday at the governor’s daily news briefing.

Education Secretary Johnny Key acknowledged that the end-of-year celebration is a highly anticipated event for students, educators and their families, but the risk is still too great to plan large gatherings.

“In many communities, high school graduation is one of the most attended, largest events in the community in the whole year,” Key said. “When you have friends, family members coming from across the state, and in many cases coming from out of state, for a traditional graduation ceremony, we simply cannot mitigate sufficiently the risk of spread in a situation like that.”

Key acknowledged that losing traditional graduations would be a disappointment to many. As July 1 nears, he said, officials will reevaluate that date in conjunction with the Health Department and determine if it needs to be modified.

“Right now, we’re asking all of our schools not to plan any traditional high school graduations prior to July 1. We know that that may be too late for some,” he said.

Key said the state would allow schools to put together nontraditional celebrations, possibly by digital means.

“There are a number of techniques that schools have already started exploring to see how they could make this happen as a celebration for their seniors, at the same time taking into consideration and following our social-distancing protocols, the restrictions of congregate gatherings of 10 or more people,” he said.

The state was set to begin accepting proposals from school districts this week to evaluate the nontraditional celebrations, the education secretary said.

“We would ask that all schools be patient as we work through this situation. I would encourage you to wait. That would be my encouragement to school districts, would be to wait until after July 1, but if that’s not an option for you, then we will make this other option available for you,” he said.

Key said the department would send more details to district superintendents this week on how they can submit their proposals.

“We will be looking at those, turning those around as quickly as possible,” he said.

— Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key We would ask that all schools be patient as we work through this situation. I would encourage you to wait. That would be my encouragement to school districts, would be to wait until after July 1 ... . ”