The timing of graduation 2018 is causing some concern on the part of the Pike Delta York Board of Education.
The board convened a public hearing on the proposed calendar at the Dec. 21 meeting. The proposed calendar has graduation ceremonies for 2018 to be on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.
There are two draft calendars based on suggestions from administrators throughout the year, Superintendent Ted Haselman said. The final draft will come from input from anyone (which will be weighed), he said.
Spring break 2018 will be in the first week of April, which is after spring sports begin. The timing is to make it closer to Easter and should impact testing, he said.
The Friday night graduation was chosen over a Sunday afternoon ceremony on the holiday weekend like a few years ago, Haselman said.
The commencement could not be before the end of the school year as has been done in the past due to state law, he said.
“We can’t do it on the 20th because we are only allowed to miss three days and we don’t have those days,” Haselman. “We won’t have those days to give.”
The school year can’t start later than mid-August due to testing requirements. The semester ends at the winter break and that makes for a clean end, Haselman said. Also the district needs to have 84 days of instruction to allow some middle school students to receive high school credit for some of their courses, he said.
The holiday graduation is likely to stand, even though students had no say in the matter.
In other news,
The board approved the hiring of Mary Tresnan Reighard and Alex Frey as assistant high school track coaches and Bronson Ebaugh as assistant softball coach. Dean Drushel was approved as a volunteer assistant wrestling coach.
The board approved two trips for the varsity wrestling team: Maumee Bay Classic Jan. 13-14 and Rieman Classic Tournament Feb. 3-4.
High School Principal Kristie Reighard said credit was awarded to students in 64 online courses in the first semester through the Panthers Virtual Academy. Most classes were electives the students do not have access to on-site.
High school course registration for 2017-18 will begin in January.
Senior Ethan Jessing has been chosen as one of 1,194 Coca-Cola Seminfinalist Scholars out of 87,000 applications. Jessing is one of 83 Ohio students selected. He is now in the running to become one of 250 Coca-Cola Scholars.
The PTO Father-Daughter Dance will be Jan. 14.
At the Middle School, eighth graders will trave to the Four County Career Center Jan. 19.
The district’s website will continue to be updated. In the last month, the site received 200 views, with almost half being new. People spent 3 minutes, 22 seconds on the site on average and viewed 2.39 pages per visit.
James Pruitt may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com