Centennial's Construction Issues Dictate a Break from Tradition

Centennial School Board Directors voted Tuesday evening to approve Friday, June 17 as the date of graduation for William Tennent High School.

However, the graduation ceremony will not be held in the traditional location, the school’s auditorium, due to issues with the ongoing construction.

Earlier this year, c.  The wall was torn down and is currently being rebuilt, throwing the project off its timeline of having that portion of the building ready for graduation.

Project Manager Ryan Brennan, of Reynolds Construction Management, detailed the problem for members of the school board at a recent Operations Committee Meeting.

“Due to the we won’t be able to provide the proper access for emergency egress,” he said.  “The auditorium itself is done, but the surrounding areas around it are not going to be able to allow the graduation to occur.”

Consequently, Tennent’s class of 2011 will graduate outdoors, in the school’s stadium.

Even though the ceremony will be held outside, the board voted to adopt the date for the ceremony without a rain date. In the event of inclement weather, the plan is to hold the ceremony divided between the school’s gymnasium and cafeteria.

“When we met with the high school administration we agreed it would be better to have a contingency plan and hold it on the night it is scheduled for,” said Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Foight-Cressman. “We have families that literally come from all over the world (for the ceremony), so we do think a firm date is better than a rain date.”

After much debate, the board also voted to set the last day of school for the remainder of the district to the same date as graduation, Friday, June 17.

School Board President Andrew Pollock called for the two events, high school graduation and the last day of school for the remainder of the students in the district, to be voted on and discussed independently of one another.

While Pollock agreed with the date for graduation, he said he believed it was a point of pride that each year students complete 184 days of classes rather than just meeting the minimum requirement of 180 days.

“I don’t see why we need to stop the instruction of the students in K to 11 three days short,” he said. “Education should take precedent over all else, and if that is to be the case, the rest of the district should have instruction until the following Wednesday.”

School Board Vice President Thomas Reinboth disagreed.  He said the students will have already met the requirement and with all of the construction going on he didn’t see the difference a few days would make.

“I’m sure the people involved in the construction process would like a few extra days of unfettered access to make sure the project is done on time for next year,” he said.

School Board Director Kati Driban agreed with Reinboth, saying she couldn’t support denying time to the construction effort when they are under such a tight deadline.

“I can’t reasonably see all of (what needs to be done) getting done in time,” she said.

Board Member Michael Hartline said with just eight weeks until the end of the school year a good deal of families have already made plans for the summer.

“I think we would need to give parents more notice (if we were to do this),” he said.

Pollock said notice to families should not be a consideration, as it is commonly known that the official decision as to the last day of school in the district is not made until the board’s first meeting in April.

While the Superintendent of Schools does not have an official vote in setting the last day of school for the district, Foight-Cressman said she had to “respectfully disagree” with Pollock.

She said there are at least three buildings in the district that will be affected by upcoming moves and ongoing construction projects.

“We need to give our construction companies as much lead time as possible to get in and to do the work they need to do,” she said.

Foight-Cressman also cited the need for professional development on the that will be employed by the elementary teachers next year.

“Rather than take teachers out of the classroom during the school year, we delayed that (training) until those last three days,” she said.

Lastly, she reminded the board of the lack of air conditioning in the current buildings and the likelihood of high temperatures during the days in question.

“It is very difficult to teach and to learn in that type of environment,” she said.

Ultimately, the board voted 8 to 1 to call Friday, June 17 as the close of the school year for the entire district, with Pollock as the dissenting vote.