The Greeneville City School Board voted to change the Graduation Ceremony date for Greeneville High School from Friday May 26 at 7 PM, to Saturday May 27 at 10 AM due to it being a conflict with the Tennessee Spring Sports Championship.
The conflict has been a topic of discussion recently as Greeneville High School students have had to miss graduation in the past because of the championship, or arrived late at the ceremony. Director Starnes advised he didn’t recommend the date change but added with there being a lot of sports competitions, history shows some wont be able to make the ceremony. The vote was 3-2 with Chair Cindy Luttrell and board member Pamela Botta voting against it.
Students expressed their concerns on the change with Student Representative of the board Asher Rogers, who felt it was his duty to speak on their behalf. He stated a lot of trips and events have been scheduled around this year‘s graduation ceremony and families have planned for it in advance. Those are a lot of plans that could be potentially ruined. Board member Crystal Hirschy said they received a lot of emails for and against the graduation date change and understands the frustration, but with 59 days left till graduation that’s time for families to plan and speak with their employers to prepare. Treasurer Josh Quillen based his vote on what’s best for the students but agreed as a parent, that the conflict with the championship was an issue.
Vice-Chair Dr. Craig Shepard said for seven years with these two events ongoing, no one’s mentioned changing the graduation ceremony date, although graduation has been changed before for reasons including Covid-19 or inclement weather. So changing the date this year wouldn’t be abnormal. Board member Pam Botta voiced this conflict has been a problem since 2015 and doesn’t believe the day should be changed with just two months left.
Chair of the board Cindy Luttrell explained her decision was based only on this year and said either way someone would be upset because of the outcome, but all agreed that in the future there would be a better plan in place to accommodate students in sports.
