A return to tradition
LUSD to hold high school graduations in person again
With all 58 counties in the state now moving out of the purple tier of the California Department of Public Health’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, school districts are now planning to have in-person graduation ceremonies this summer.
The Lodi Unified School District on April 6 announced to its community that it plans to hold modified outdoor graduation ceremonies as long as the county remains in the red tier or advances to the orange or yellow tiers.
The district will be following guidelines for in-person ceremonies set forth by the CDPH, superintendent Cathy NicholsWasher said.
“Another year of graduations and ceremonies are upon us,” she said in the announcement.
“We want to ensure that our seniors and their families are able to commemorate this rite of passage in the most celebratory ways possible. We very much look forward to celebrating out Class of 2021.”
If the county remains in the red tier, or advances to a higher tier by May 21 — the first date for graduations in the district — graduations will be held at an outdoor site with social distancing and face coverings being enforced.
Attendance will be limited to 20% capacity if the county is in the red tier, 33% capacity in the orange tier and 67% in the yellow tier.
In all tiers, only guests who reside in California will be allowed to attend, and assigned reservations and assigned seating will be required. A guest’s block of seat reservations will contain no more than one household.
Ceremonies will be livestreamed, and virtual celebrations will be recorded before the in-person events.
Middle College High School seniors will graduate on May 21 at 6 p.m., McNair High School
seniors will graduate June 7 at 7 p.m., and Bear Creek High School seniors will graduate on June 8 at 7 p.m.
Four high schools will hold ceremonies on June 9 throughout the day. Liberty High School’s event will be at 10 a.m., followed by Independence High School at 1 p.m., Plaza Robles High School at 2 p.m. and Lodi High School at 7 p.m.
Tokay High School’s ceremony will be held on June 10 at 7 p.m.
Locations for the ceremonies have not been determined, but Washer said in her statement that more information would be provided to parents and students as graduation dates approach.
If the county returns to the purple tier by May 21, virtual graduations videos will be recorded, and students and families will be instructed to pick up diplomas during drive-through events, much like last year.
As of Tuesday’s tier assignments, the county’s adjusted COVID-19 case rate was 9.3 per 100,000 residents. Its test positivity and health equity rates were 3.9% and 4.1%, respectively.
The positivity and health equity rates qualify the county for orange tier status, but its case rate must be less than 5.9 per 100,000 residents to advance.
San Joaquin County is now one of 18 in the red tier, along with Sacramento, Amador, Calaveras, Stanislaus and Merced counties. There are 37 counties in the orange tier, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.
Lassen, Sierra and Alpine counties are the only three in the yellow, least restrictive tier.
Sacramento County’s adjusted case rate was 7.8 per 100,000 residents as of Tuesday, and its test positivity and health equity rates were 3.3% and 4.6%, respectively.
Information regarding graduations for Galt Joint Union High School District was not available Wednesday.