Marion County – Following consensus from the School Board of Marion County, here are graduation plans for the Class of 2020 in Marion County public high schools.
All graduations will take place in school football stadiums and tentatively follow this schedule and stipulations:
- June 12 – MTI at Booster Stadium
- June 15 – Vanguard at Booster Stadium
- June 16 – Forest at Mikey Kelly Stadium
- June 17 – Lake Weir at Lake Weir Stadium
- June 18 – North Marion at Stan Toole Memorial Stadium
- June 19 – West Port at Ken Vianello Stadium
- June 20 – Belleview at Brent Hall Field
- June 22 – Dunnellon at Richard Kennedy Stadium
- All graduations start at 9 A.M.
- Graduation practice will not take place.
- Seniors will arrive and sit in reserved seats spaced six feet apart on the school football field.
- Bands or music ensembles will not participate.
- Formal processionals and recessionals will not take place.
- Each senior receives two admission tickets for guests.
- Guests must sit in designated areas safely social distanced in bleachers.
- Similar safe social distancing will be paramount at all times to prevent physical contact or close gatherings.
- Three people will be seated on stage – a school board member, the superintendent, and the school principal.
- No physical contact will occur between students and stage occupants.
- No teacher and district staff seating sections will exist.
- Valedictorian and salutatorian speakers will be allowed.
- Each senior will accept a diploma cover after crossing the stage and be officially photographed.
- Students will turn their own tassels together at the end of each ceremony.
- When ceremonies conclude, graduates and guests must leave immediately to avoid crowd gatherings.
Extra law enforcement will attend each ceremony to ensure everyone’s safety. Each ceremony will also be recorded and live-streamed if possible. All ceremonies will be posted to the Marion Education Channel and the district’s YouTube channel (MCPSmedia).
All graduation plans are subject to change based on COVID-19 conditions and guidelines at the time. Relaxed guidelines could change these plans.
If alternate plans are necessary, graduations will be moved to July 13 – July 21 still in school football stadiums. The backup for this plan is to hold all graduation ceremonies inside First Baptist Church of Ocala from July 13 – July 21. In this case, only graduating seniors would participate inside the sanctuary. All guests would observe commencement exercises on large screens outside of their parking spots.
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