Published June 4, 2020
By JILLIAN STRING
NORTH READING — Superintendent Dr. Patrick Daly announced a three phase graduation for the Class of 2020 this summer, with three separate events for seniors and their families.
“(We have) three really exciting events for our seniors. In addition to the amazing things, I want to make sure I credit what parents and community members are doing. If you’ve driven by, you can see the great posters and banners that are on the fence outside of the turf field. We’ve had other parents doing things like putting together videos and just so many different events that have been done,” Daly told School Committee members Monday evening during their remote meeting.
Daly stated that the scheduled events will include yearbook and diploma distribution, a rolling rally, and a field-based ceremony.
“Event number one is going to be yearbook and diploma distribution, with the ability for students, in small groups with their family, to take some memorable photos against a great backdrop,” Daly said. “That will be in early June.” This will likely occur mid-week next week over two days.
The second event will be a rolling rally or “car parade” on Saturday, June 20 at 10 a.m. The tentative plan will be to have three separate driving routes, so as not to disrupt town traffic. Each student will be assigned a route based upon his or her home address. Daly stated that more information will be forthcoming on the event.
Daly noted that the third event, which will be a field-based commencement ceremony, will need to take place after July 19 per Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) guidelines.
“Mr. Buckley and I, along with Mr. Loprete, have been very much involved with the town officials talking about graduation. There’s been a lot of discussion. We had a wonderful plan in place. It was ready to go, and we were thrown a little bit of a curve ball when the (DESE) guidelines came out. We had to kind of go back to the drawing board,” Daly said.
Daly noted that the July event will try to preserve the elements of a traditional graduation.
“It’s certainly going to look different than it has in other years. There’s going to be a lot of guidelines and restrictions in place for safety, but I think that we can create some really memorable experiences for our students,” Daly said.
School Committee Vice Chairman Janene Imbriano asked for more information regarding the events.
Daly noted that logistics were still being worked out, and more information would be forthcoming.
“It’s been a pleasure working with the community leaders about trying to put this on. I know the public wants specific information, but the reason we haven’t put things out too quickly was because this is literally the third different plan that’s been out there for graduation,” School Committee Chairman Scott Buckley said.
“Who knows what’s going to happen this summer, so I think there’s a hesitation to say, ‘This is the date,’ and then DESE comes out and says, ‘Actually, that can’t be the date. It has to be later.’ I think the goal is to do it as soon as we can,” Buckley added.
If this had been an ordinary school year, the Class of 2020 would have been wrapping up a week’s worth of Senior Week activities this coming Friday night with traditional commencement exercises.
