City plans outdoor graduations
NORWALK — Graduation ceremonies for middle and high school students will likely be held outdoors this spring due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
But the number of people who will be allowed to attend the events has not been decided, according to
Superintendent Alexandra Estrella.
“The number is going to depend on the (coronavirus) cases around that time,” Estrella told the city’s Board of Education last week. “Right now we have restrictions in how large the groups can be.”
State restrictions place no hard cap on the
number of people who can attend outdoor graduation ceremonies. However, the venue must ensure that all guests and participants wear masks and practice social distancing throughout the event, according to the current state guidelines. Indoor ceremonies are limited to 50 percent capacity, or 100 people.
The city’s commencement exercises were abruptly canceled last year as the coronavirus swept across the state. After considering alternative options, the district ultimately held a series of small in-person ceremonies in August at each of the two high schools to limit the spread of the virus.
Estrella said the district’s upcoming graduation ceremonies are scheduled to be held over four days in June. The Center for Global Studies, a magnet school, will hold its ceremony on June 11. Promotion events for each of the city’s four middle schools are set for June 16.
Norwalk High School and P-TECH will hold their respective graduation ceremonies on June 17, and Brien McMahon will send off its seniors on June 18 — the last day of the semester.
According to Estrella, all of the ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. A location for the various events has not been determined, but the city’s high school commencements have traditionally been held outdoors at football fields.
In addition to the total number of attendees, it is still unclear how many family members of an individual student will be able to be present. Estrella stressed that much of the details surrounding the long-awaited ceremonies will hinge on the severity of the pandemic in the weeks approaching graduation.
Norwalk schools have reported 53 new COVID-19 cases since April 4, according to data collected by the district. Nearly 400 students and staff members from 15 different schools, including both of the high schools, are in quarantine.
The new COVID-19 cases at city schools come as Norwalk weathers an overall increase in infections. The recent spike prompted school administrators earlier this month to delay plans to resume in-person learning for middle and high schoolers.
“Until our cases start to normalize and, most importantly, drop, it’s going to be hard for us to give any type of precision in how we’re moving forward at this point,” Estrella said, referring to graduation ceremonies and other endof-year events.
Estrella noted the district recently allowed up to two guests to attend athletics events. Previously, visitors were barred from attending games due to the pandemic. She suggested the approach to sporting events could help administrators better determine how to handle graduation ceremonies.
“Slowly as we continue to test these things out, we’ll have more clarity in how successful we are in keeping everybody safe,” she said.