State Board Buckles

It was interesting watching the Illinois State Board of Education completely reverse a decision it had made last week prohibiting not only in-person graduation ceremonies…but all other attempts to honor grads.

The original edict got huge blowback from around the state and in particular from Senator Andy Manar of Bunker Hill. He immediately tweeted the prohibition needed some work. Quoting Manar---“It will be as if graduation never happened for thousands of Illinois students.” Manar went on  to push the state to give strict guidelines….but allow school districts some wiggle room.

Clearly, he wasn’t alone. In the course of three days, the state school board was singing a different tune.

Now the difficult job. How do you do this where it has meaning and falls within some rather restrictive guidelines. Remember, everyone must be at least six feet apart, and there will be no touching. Some schools around the state are doing drive thru..where the graduate drives up with his/her family….gets a diploma off a table …and has a picture taken.  Others are having the students walk across an empty stage on video. 

They get their diploma in advance. They can’t be handed it.

You see, every attempt is sorely  lacking. Local educators have my sincere sympathy.

The good news is this. We will honor graduates. It only happened because people rose up and said they weren’t going to accept the state’s decision.

Which is encouraging…