|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
 |
State Sen. Huffman to spearhead graduation taskforce
Senators: On Tuesday, April 28th, Governor DeWine stated the following
concerning high school graduation at his daily press conference:
“Everything always comes back to distance. As far as I’m concerned, if
the schools can figure out how to properly distance, they can certainly
hold graduation. It is up to the school. It is driven by how many
students they have, what facilities they have, etc. It has to be well
thought out. Some schools with large numbers of students probably won’t
be able to hold them. ODE did put out guidance, I didn’t see it go out,
but it is consistent with the things we’ve been saying recommending not
having graduation. We would have to clarify that through the
department. If we can figure out a way to do it safely, that might be
an ok thing to do.’
The following day, he stated that there was a confusion about
graduation and announced he would not allow graduation with more than
ten people. He never explained what the confusion was; it
appeared very plainly to nearly everyone that he would allow high
school graduation. I and others have asked him to do what he has
done with other aspects of opening up Ohio and appoint a task force to
give him and the Department of Health recommendations on how graduation
could properly be done in Ohio. So far, there has been no further
mention of a task force of superintendents or any ability to have high
school graduation from Governor DeWine. We have mass gatherings
every day—in the grocery store or hardware store—they just are not
called that. Hundreds of people, some observing social distancing and
others not, go into these stores all around Ohio, and only about 42
percent of them wear masks. The Governor has put together groups
of people to discuss how to be able to have county fairs and open
sports facilities, but he has not done anything about high school
graduation. Many schools have pushed back graduation into June
and July waiting for Governor DeWine to make some type of
recommendation, but have not heard anything yet.
I am taking the creation of a task force upon myself and developing a
group of superintendents, local school board members and members of
local departments of health to discuss and come up with a
recommendation on how to safely have high school graduation this
year. In no way should high school graduation be required at any
school, but they should at least be given the opportunity to host a
ceremony if they deem it safe. There will be challenges, but just like
all of the different aspects of opening up Ohio, the experts have found
a way to overcome the challenges of social distancing. There are over
100,000 high school seniors graduating this year and they deserve to be
honored for their great accomplishment.
Any superintendent, local school board member or local health
department can contact my office to give their suggestions on how to
have a high school graduation and under what guidelines would be safe
for all Ohioans. Please forward this to anyone who you think would be
appropriate to weigh in on this matter, and they can also let my office
know if they would like to be on my task force to make a recommendation
to the Governor. My office can be reached at 614-466-6247 and at
shuffman@ohiosenate.gov. Governor DeWine may choose to ignore the
recommendation, but at least I and others can say we did everything we
can for a group of very deserving Ohioans.
Sincerely,
Stephen A. Huffman
State Senator
5th District
|
|
|
|
