FCPS announces additional graduation details
Apr. 15—Frederick County Public Schools released additional details Thursday about the outdoor graduation ceremonies planned for the class of 2021.
Graduations for all high schools will take place in-person outdoors at each school's home stadium. The Rock Creek School will also have its graduation ceremony outdoors, in-person on its campus, and the SUCCESS Program will have its ceremony that same way at the arboretum of the FCPS Earth, Space and Science Lab.
According to a press release, all ceremonies will adhere to health and safety protocols issued by the Frederick County Health Department, the Maryland Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
School system officials say seating will be physically distanced and multiple hand sanitizing stations will be available for use.
Each student will be allowed to invite two guests to attend the ceremony in-person. Each graduation will also be livestreamed so other friends and family members can watch in real-time. Links to the livestreams are expected to be provided prior to the event. The recordings of the graduations will also be available and posted to the individual school and FCPS YouTube pages.
On the day that a high school is scheduled to have its ceremony, all other students will engage in an asynchronous learning day to allow staff to attend the ceremony and to provide enough parking at each school.
"I am looking forward to celebrating the Class of 2021 at ceremonies later this spring," Terry Alban, FCPS superintendent, said in a prepared statement. "Graduating seniors should be proud of their accomplishments, especially as we persevered through a health crisis that affected our community in so many ways."
The dates for the graduations are as follows—Frederick and Gov. Thomas Johnson high schools will have their ceremonies on June 1. Brunswick, Middletown and Linganore High Schools are scheduled for June 2. Catoctin, Walkersville, and Urbana High Schools are scheduled for June 3. Oakdale and Tuscarora High Schools are scheduled for June 4.
The SUCCESS program will hold its ceremony on May 18 at 1 p.m. The Rock Creek School is scheduled for May 19 at 5 p.m.
Besides the Rock Creek School and the SUCCESS Program, all other ceremonies have been scheduled for 10 a.m. to avoid high afternoon temperatures and inclement weather. However, according to Thursday's announcement, detailed inclement weather plans are still being developed and will be shared at a later date.
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