- April 25, 2024
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High school graduations are three months away, and Volusia County parents are pushing back against the limit of two tickets per student.
At the Volusia County School Board meeting on Tuesday, March 9, parents asked the School Board to reconsider how graduation ceremonies for Class of 2021 are conducted. An agreement with the Ocean Center to use the facility for all 10 high school ceremonies was included in the meeting's consent agenda for approval, but the item was removed.
Parents expressed that their high school seniors have already missed out on traditional milestone moments, and that they deserved to celebrate a graduation with more loved ones present. One parent, Kristina Gregory, called the two-ticket limit "heartbreaking," especially to blended families like hers.
“I’m not asking for 12 tickets," she said. "I’m only asking that this board consider that not all families are cookie-cutter two-parent families.”
Gregory asked the district find a way to grant each student at least four tickets.
The topic of prom was also broached. In February, Volusia County Schools announced there would be no proms this year for seniors, citing the inability of practicing social distancing at a dance, and parents are questioning that decision.
“Is it common sense that you can’t have a dance, you can’t have a parade, a homecoming celebration, but the football team can go out on the field and spit, breathe, bleed, push all over each other?" said Jennifer Strickland, a parent from DeLand. "Is that common sense? Is that contact more than a dance?”
While the board did not address proms, members did ask about graduations. VCS Superintendent Scott Fritz said the district has been contacting the Ocean Center every week and have not made any progress on that front. He explained that the Ocean Center calculates its capacity based on spacing people six-feet apart, rather than by a percentage of its total capacity. The arena is able to seat 9,300 people, according to the facility's website.
“Nothing would make me happier than to say as a superintendent that we’ve got four tickets for every kid," Fritz said. "I’m being told no.”
Fritz said the district feels like it's "up against a wall," and stated he would prioritize meeting with the county on the matter.
The board also discussed its mask mandate.
School Board Member Carl Persis said that if it was safe, he would like to pursue lifting the mandate for students beginning in May, and letting them decide whether or not they would like to wear one. He said he felt encouraged by the rate people are being vaccinated against COVID-19, and that the county is expecting more doses to arrive next month.
Board Chair Linda Cuthbert said she worried about high schoolers, as the 15-24 age group has reported the most new cases lately. She said she would rather wait to see what will happen next month, and Board Member Anita Burnette expressed similar sentiments in wanting to abide by the guidelines set by the Florida Department of Health. She also wants to see what happens when students return from spring break, which will take place March 22-26.
Board Member Ruben Colon said DOH would not inform them it will be safe to not wear masks between now and the end of the school year . He said they could have the conversation, but that they would need guidance from a panel of medical professionals.
“[For] a lot of our parents, this has been what has given them comfort to send their kids back to school, whether it works, doesn’t work, whatever the case may be," Colon said. "Honestly, I think it’s going to be a huge part of schools reopening nationwide — it’s going to be the masks, because they’re closed right now.”
Fritz cautioned about changing the safety protocols after the district instituted that students would not be able to switch learning modalities this late in the semester.
