Ligonier Valley's no-family graduation riles some seniors

What would a high school commencement ceremony be without parents and family to share in the special moment?

Ligonier Valley seniors will find out Wednesday, when the district holds a virtual graduation at the high school auditorium for the senior class, divided alphabetically into three groups.

A group of about a dozen seniors, as well as some parents and underclassmen, gathered Tuesday in front of the district’s administration building in Ligonier to protest the decision to replace the graduation ceremony planned for June 19 and with an event Wednesday morning and afternoon. The district said it is banning family from attending because of the state restrictions against large gatherings, according to a letter from Timothy Kantor, high school principal.

“I think family and friends should be there to see us walk across the stage during graduation. We worked hard for this,” said Kyle Silk, a senior from Ligonier, as he stood outside the administration building holding a sign protesting the graduation.

School administrators, senior class officers and senior class advisers made the decision on Monday to hold the virtual ceremony without family members, Kantor wrote.

School Superintendent Christine Oldham said in an email Tuesday that June 3 had been decided as a virtual date for the ceremony, which was the date a professional videographer was available. Students were informed the decision would be made June 1, at which time it was decided a virtual ceremony would be best because only two family members of each graduate would have been able to attend the ceremony and families would have had to enter and leave on a rotating basis.

Those government-ordered restrictions against large gatherings forced schools across the state to hold online instruction since late March. Other school districts in the region postponed graduations in May and rescheduled them for June or later.

Those involved were concerned that the further from the original May 29 graduation date a ceremony was held, the likelihood that fewer graduates would be available to attend. The release of the video on June 19 will allow graduates to experience the virtual ceremony with their entire family, Oldham said.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision … made with the knowledge that whatever was decided would result in displeasure by some,” Oldham wrote.

Senior Courtney McKlveen said she was upset that the entire class of seniors was not given the opportunity to voice their opinion before the administration decided on a quick graduation ceremony without families.

“They let four (class officers) decide for 154” class members, said fellow senior Michael Marinchak of Ligonier Township.

Oldham, however, said the class officers solicited input from their classmates to determine the best course of action and had created a webpage to get the opinion of their fellow seniors.

While not opposed to the virtual ceremony, McKlveen said they wanted to also have a commencement at Ligonier Valley’s football field, which would have allowed family to attend and keep social distancing.

Filming the ceremony is not sufficient, Silk said.

“I just don’t want to see myself on TV after 12 years of hard work,” he said.

Trudy Marinchak, mother of senior Michael Marinchak, was disappointed the school board did not intervene to overturn the administration’s decision. No one on the board has a child graduating this year, she said.

“After this, we need a new school board and a new administration,” Marinchak said.