LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools will host 25 virtual graduation ceremonies for more than 6,000 high school seniors during the last week of May, Superintendent Marty Pollio announced Wednesday.
The commencements will be streamed by JCPS, during which graduates will have their names read, Pollio said.
The ceremonies will include speeches from valedictorians or other senior representatives, photos of students, school videos and possible music performances.
"That’s going to be a lot of work, but we are committed to doing this," Pollio said.
JCPS and school districts throughout Kentucky have had to come up with creative ways to honor the Class of 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic upended their final year of high school in mid-March. Schools throughout the state have transitioned to distance learning for the rest of the 2019-20 school year, with many slated to wrap up work by next week.
Pollio reiterated that graduates will have in-person ceremonies when health guidelines in response to COVID-19 ease, possibly as early as late summer or as late as next year.
"We want to honor them the best that we can, and we want our graduating seniors to know that the month of May is for you and our hearts are with you as you finish this journey," Pollio said.
Dejuan Parks, a senior at Central High School, said he was excited to walk across the stage on his graduation to get his diploma.
"It's not set up the way that we wanted to, be but to know our name is going to be called and we are actually going to be graduating, that's nice to hear," he said.
High school leaders are also exploring their own methods of celebrating graduates, such as delivering yard signs to homes and allowing them to collect caps, gowns and diplomas on-site.
"We will make sure that schools are following those social distancing guidelines in order to do that," Pollio said.
Some school districts have announced plans to have graduating seniors come individually and walk the stage for their diplomas, with footage taped and edited together into a commencement ceremony. Others have explored the possibility of drive-in graduation services.
Pollio said maintaining social distancing at 25 individual ceremonies was a concern for JCPS.
"We think this is the best way forward for safety and ensuring that we give them a commencement ceremony at some point as soon as we can," he said.
Principals "are very confident that the vast majority" of the district's 6,159 seniors will be eligible for graduation, he added.
JCPS is also planning other ways to recognize seniors in the coming days.
On Friday, Pollio said all JCPS high school football stadiums will be lit up in honor of the Class of 2020 from 8-9 p.m. Likewise, the newly built Lynn Family Stadium will have its lights turned on from 8 p.m. to midnight in recognition of graduating seniors on Friday.
TARC buses will begin displaying banners of JCPS high schools with the names of their graduating seniors starting May 18, and local media, including WDRB News, will soon begin airing videos produced by JCPS recognizing graduating seniors from all 28 high schools.
"I did a message on each and every one of those," Pollio said of the videos.
WHAS Radio and WAMZ also plan to air speeches and clips from JCPS seniors.
The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect schools throughout Kentucky this year, including JCPS.
Pollio said the district is developing various plans for the start of the 2020-21 school year. The Kentucky Department of Education advised superintendents Tuesday to come up with strategies to open schools early, on time or later in the year depending on the impact of COVID-19.
For JCPS, potential scenarios include starting the school year late or starting on time but prepared to stop if there's a COVID-19 outbreak, he said.
"We're also monitoring all of the social distancing guidelines that are being released," Pollio said. "Clearly the logistics around some of those are concerning as to how we will implement them in a large school district."
When to conduct temperature checks on students and how to maintain social distancing in class and during transitions are part of the "major challenges" facing JCPS as it considers ways to reopen its doors to traditional instruction while adhering to public health guidelines, Pollio said.
"I can't underscore enough the concerns I have about the logistics of a lot of those recommendations," he said.
JCPS is also in the process of planning virtual formats for its summer learning programs, which include the second year of the Summer Backpack League.
The district is working out plans to provide additional Chromebooks and data hotspots as needed during the summer months, when programming will be tailored more to interests rather than grade-level instruction to make the experience more like summer camp than classroom learning.
Pollio offered robotics as an example, saying the district is exploring opportunities to provide construction kits to students and have teachers interact with them regularly.
The process may be difficult, but Pollio says it's necessary to continue supporting students academically in the summer.
"We know it may not necessarily be like a summer program were a student comes five days a week for five or six hours a day, but we know also that as much interaction as we can possibly get with students is a benefit to their learning and achievement in an environment where we know nationally that student achievement is going to be significantly impacted by this crisis," he said.
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