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Graduation will move to Sunday

Seniors to attend school extra week

By Erik Buchinger


The Clintonville High School graduation ceremony will change dates starting with the 2018-19 school year.

The commencement has been held on the Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend. It will now take place one week later on Sunday afternoon, which will be June 2 next year.

Among the items involved in the decision was the availability of staff, alumni, speakers, families, inclement weather, multi-grade classrooms and the number of days seniors are excused from instruction.

Superintendent David Dyb sent out an email to the parents of the high school’s junior class for their preferences. About half of the parents responded.

The options were to keep the date the same on Saturday, May 25, 2019, or move the graduation date to Saturday, June 1, 2019, or Sunday, June 2, 2019. The results were:

• May 25: 30 first-place votes, 10 second-place votes, 24 third-place votes.

• June 1: 11 first-place votes, 20 second-place votes, 18 third-place votes.

• June 2: 17 first-place votes, 27 second-place votes, 16 third-place votes.

Dyb said one parent requested to hold graduation on a Wednesday night because sports are generally not scheduled on Wednesdays.

“With rainouts, you could have a makeup track meet or baseball or softball game I guess,” Dyb said. “That was the only comment I had gotten back from the parents.”

The graduation date had previously been on the Saturday after Memorial Day weekend, which led to some students missing graduation due to the WIAA State Track and Field Championships that same day.

“That would work fine if there was no rain in La Crosse at the state track meet,” Dyb said. “For anybody who has been to La Crosse for the state track meet, about two out of every three years, they have a rain delay, and they have finished quite late on some Saturdays because of that.”

During the 2017-18 school year, graduation was held on May 26, with the final day of the school year for non-seniors being June 8.

“I have a little trouble with two full weeks off, especially when you have a half of a class of juniors and a half a class of seniors,” School Board President Ben Huber said. “Two weeks prior, you have to have everything done because the seniors are going to be gone. Especially if you add in a few snow days, they might be three weeks early for graduation.”

Board member Jim Schultz said he is concerned for the classes that have a mix of juniors and seniors.

“It kind of feels to the community like after graduation, school is out,” Schultz said. “I’m sure not much good is happening in that last extra week or so. I know in the high school that is always a concern of mine here because you have these split classes because what do you do with them?”

Huber said he would prefer a weekend date to allow friends and family to travel.

“To have a weekend day when grandparents can come, especially if they have some traveling, I personally would shoot for the second of June,” Huber said.

Dyb said he recommended a 2 p.m. start time to accommodate morning church services and to give friends and family plenty of time to attend the ceremony.

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