Some northern school boards still deciding between in-person, outdoor versus virtual graduations

Not every school boardin the Sudbury area will conductan in-person, outdoor graduation ceremony despite being given the green light by the province.

During a news conference last week, Premier Doug Ford stated that Ontario schools will be allowed to hold outdoor celebrations for graduations.

The news took Lesleigh Dye by surprise.

The director of education for District School Board Ontario North East (DSBONE) says in-person ceremonies may not be possible in communities like Timmins where COVID-19 cases are high.

Dye saysmost schools had been expecting to hold virtual graduations.

"The planning has been going on for months, and so [the school board] wants to honour all of that planning, and also the student input that has been provided over those months in terms of what would be the best possible event," Dye says.

"And again, what can we move forward with in terms of the COVID protocols that must be in place," she adds.

Dye is awaiting further direction from the Ministry of Education on what can be done safely.

"It's a bit of a waiting game, but [the school board officials] want to ensure, as we always do at DSBONE, we comply with the direction from the ministry, we work collaboratively with the health unit, and then each school brings their own incredible school spirit to the celebrations," she says.

Dye expects to have further details for her schools later this week.

Decision to be made by school boards

According to Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD), the decision to hold in-person, outdoor graduations is up to individual school boards.

"It's really up to them to make that decision," saysJoelle Martell, a health promoter with PHSD. She's been working with the schools across Greater Sudbury during the pandemic.

"And if they decide to, then we would provide them guidance about infection prevention, control measures and all those things."

Martel says logistically, there are still questions that need to be answered about outdoor school celebrations.

"For some larger schools that means they might have five or six different classes. So how would they accommodate doing a ceremony with multiple groups of students?"

The Ministry of Education is expected to provide more information to school boards in the coming days.

"Right now, really, our message is that virtual celebrations are still the safest thing to do," Martel said.

Attempt to get graduation 'we deserve'

Confederation Secondary School student Shannon Royster feels new graduates should have the opportunity to celebrate in-person with their classmates, before everyone heads off in different directions.

The grade 12 student started a petition to try to get an in-person graduation ceremony at the school.

"I wanted to fight this. I wanted to see if I could actually get the graduation that we deserved and that we were promised, and I knew that if I didn't do this then there would be almost no chance," Royster says.

After compiling signatures, and research on how to do an outdoor ceremony safely, Royster says she sent the petition on to officials who could make a decision, like the Rainbow District School Board and the Ministry of Education.

"I sent it to the Ford government which I know was a long shot."

Royster thought that getting a positive response from the ministry could have been helpful if the school board said its directives come from the government.

However, despite sending the petition to a number of officials, she only got one response back.

"The only people I heard back from were Health Sudbury who said they can't do anything about it," she says.

The Rainbow District School Board did not respond to CBC's request for an interview.

Royster says that in-person graduations provide a ceremonial send-off of graduates into the world.

"It's just that last big hurrah," she said.

"You don't get that over a computer. Over a computer, it's another day of school, basically."