One Modesto school district to hold drive-thru grad ceremonies. Parents, students fuming.
Modesto’s Sylvan Union appears to be one of very few school districts in Stanislaus County not planning traditional in-person eighth-grade promotion ceremonies for its three middle schools: Somerset, Savage and Ustach.
That’s not sitting well with at least several Somerset students and their families, who see no good reason to be stripped of another rite of passage in a school year so heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The families who gathered for a video conference call Monday night said they understand there have to be limitations on promotions. They must be outdoors and with restricted attendance to allow social distancing, student Alessandra Rossini said. The kids suggested perhaps a two-guest ticket limit and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for admission.
But such an event can be held safely and is worth the effort, they argued. “It’s an accomplishment, it’s a steppingstone to high school. It’s just a great opportunity and I feel as if the district is doing the bare minimum right now. And I know that’s a lot to say, but that’s how I feel,” student Lauren Bone said.
She later added why having an in-person ceremony would be particularly meaningful to her, and perhaps other students in similar family situations. “My parents are newly divorced, and so that would be a memory that I can remember — just us together celebrating the accomplishment of an eighth-grade graduation.”
Middle school promotion might not for most people carry the weight of a high school graduation, the kids said, but it’s not taken for granted by everyone.
Much can change in a young person’s life from eighth to 12th grade, student Addison O’Brien said, and not all are certain to earn a high school diploma. A celebration of completing junior high and advancing to high school “empowers and inspires people to strive harder,” she said.
Most commencements in person
Sylvan plans drive-through promotions, which is how some districts in Stanislaus County offered ceremonies for eighth- and 12th-graders last spring. But this year, the other Modesto districts with middle schools — Modesto City Schools, Stanislaus Union and Empire Union — have returned to in-person commencements also streamed online because attendance is limited and not all families are comfortable attending.
The Bee reached out to Stanislaus districts that have middle schools, and among the 11 that replied, only Sylvan and one other — Newman-Crows Landing — said they’re doing drive-throughs rather the traditional commencements.
Keyes Union Superintendent Helio Brasil, for instance, shared that high school and eighth-grade ceremonies are “currently being planned with multiple scenarios for in-person.” Ceres Unified is limiting guests and requiring preregistration. And Stanislaus Union’s Prescott Junior High will honor students in two groups on two separate evenings.
Although the March 26 California Department of Public Health guidance on outdoor gatherings provides an option to have in-person ceremonies, Sylvan “district leadership determined due to the number of restrictions and the limiting of participants that a drive-through event would be more suitable for our district’s situation,” Superintendent Eric Fredrickson said in an email to The Bee.
“Considering that nearly 50% of our families with eighth-grade students selected a distance-learning option for the third trimester, the district felt that an eighth-grade promotion ceremony that could offer the opportunity for all families to participate would be the most desirable option.”
Family says district made good choice
Shanyn Vitti-Avila, parent of a Somerset eighth-grader who has continued with distance learning, said Sylvan made a “sound decision” in going with a drive-through ceremony.
It will provide “recognition, closure, and an opportunity to celebrate our children and others” with less coronavirus exposure risk than a ceremony with seating, she said. And for those with large vehicles — or more than one vehicle, if the district allows — the drive-through will allow more family members to attend than could at a seated ceremony, Vitti-Avila said.
Her son, Constantine Avila, said he would love to have an in-person commencement but doesn’t think it’s the responsible thing to do when Stanislaus County’s positivity rate continues to climb and when COVID-19 variants still are spreading.
“I think taking the most safety precautions we can is not a bad thing,” he said. “... The safety protocols that we can take, we must take to stop the spread of the virus,” and that means avoiding large gatherings.
“People are starting to take the virus, less seriously than they should,” he added.
The district’s promotion ceremonies will be held May 27 from 4 to 7 p.m. Families will drive through a designated route on each campus. Students will exit their vehicles, walk across a platform, receive their promotion certificates and have their pictures taken.
Decorations and celebratory messages will be displayed along the route, the superintendent said, and school and district staff will be present at each site to celebrate each student. The event will be streamed for family members unable to attend.
‘Most inclusive option’
“The district recognizes that not having the normal in-person eighth-grade promotion ceremonies is disappointing for our students, families and school staff,” Fredrickson said, “but given the current circumstances and restrictions associated with the outdoor ceremonies guidance, the district believes that the drive-through ceremony is the safest and most inclusive option for our district.”
Chad O’Brien, father of Addison and two older daughters who graduated Somerset, said he met with the superintendent to share his frustration with the drive-through plan.
The decision was made without any survey or other way of seeking parent input, O’Brien said. If drive-throughs are the best way to go, he said, then the comparably sized districts who held those last year would do so again this year, but instead they’ve returned to traditional ceremonies.
“This is an important step in our kids’ lives. ... It’s part of the ritual of our culture,” O’Brien said. “To just cheapen it by equating it, in my opinion, to getting your Big Mac at McDonald’s ... that’s just not right.”
Student Madison Bradley said she doesn’t buy the district’s argument of safety as a reason not to have in-person commencements.
Four days a week, about four hours a day, the middle schools keep sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders safe on campuses, she said, using hand-sanitizing stations, directional arrows on the ground, social distancing and other protocols, she said, but “they can’t take care of parents for two hours to set a graduation up?”
Bradley added that not having school-held commencements, which give kids a chance to say farewell, will result in many more parties that most likely won’t have much in the way of safety measures.
And drive-throughs likely won’t give students the same opportunity to say goodbye to teachers, administrators and school staff they’ve grown fond of, Addison O’Brien said.
Lauren Bone said that from what she can tell, most teachers would welcome in-person promotion ceremonies. Sunday night, she created a petition, which the next morning she took to as many of Somerset’s 54 teachers as she could. In just a few hours, she got 29 or 30 signatures supporting an in-person commencement, and just two teachers declined to sign, she said.
Diane Bone, Lauren’s mom, said if the district sees manpower as an obstacle to presenting safe commencements, parent volunteers would muster to “help them with anything that they need so that we can make this happen. ...
“It can’t be that difficult. There’s so many other places where things have opened up and we’re still stuck, and it’s just so sad.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
