Outdoor graduation

Stratford senior commencement social distance plan announced

Stratford High School has developed a social distancing plan for its senior graduation ceremony at Tigers Stadium, so it can try to keep graduates and their families safe from contacting the coronavirus during this momentous occasion.

The high school graduation will still be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 24.

Janeen LaBorde, Stratford middle and high school principal, said during Tuesday’s special school board meeting graduates will be social distanced six feet apart from each other on the football field bleachers at the graduation ceremony. Graduates will receive their diploma and flower on the walkway in the bleachers.

Each high school graduate is allowed to have six family members present at the ceremony. Families will sit apart together on the football field. LaBorde said the county and state health departments recommend everyone who attends the graduation ceremony to wear a mask, but it won’t be required.

Stratford High School has a backup graduation plan in case it’s raining on the night of July 24. Instead of holding the ceremony on the football field in the rain, graduates would drive in front of the high school entrance to receive their diplomas.

LaBorde is going to make a few small tweaks to the graduation ceremony plan, after she received input from school board members at Tuesday’s meeting, before she sends it to parents of the graduating seniors. She is hoping to have the graduation ceremony plan finalized by this Monday, July 6.

In other news:

_ The school district will spend $150,000 it has in budget surplus money this year to buy air ionization bars to be installed on the air handling units in both the elementary and middle/ high school buildings before school begins this fall, in order to keep students and staff safe from getting the coronavirus.

The air ionization bars would continually treat the air moving through the school buildings. They would get rid of allergens, mold and coronavirus spores in the air.

School board member Carol Ballerstein supported the safety measure to protect students this fall.

“I honestly can’t think of a better way to spend this money, because from what I’ve heard from parents, they want their children back in school,” she said.

_ The school district is hiring Adam Davidson as its new social studies teacher and varsity head wrestling coach. He will replace Joe Schwabe, who retired this spring as varsity head wrestling coach.

Scottt Winch, Stratford schools superintendent, said Davidson has taught social studies for a combined five years in the Mayville and Colfax school districts. Davidson was the varsity head wrestling coach in Mayville, and he was a co-head coach in the Colfax/ Bloomer cooperative high school wrestling team; he was the representative from Colfax who drove wrestlers to their practices in Bloomer.