A move by the District School Board of Niagara to bump high school graduation from late June to a date prior to the completion of final exams has a number of students up in arms.
Ann Gilmore, Superintendent of Curriculum and Student Achievement - Secondary, says the first communication about the change of date went out in October, with principals of the DSBN’s 16 secondary schools sending out their chosen dates for graduation exercises to parents and students in November.
According to Gilmore, each principal was to choose a date between May 21 and June 14, with the added option of pushing the ceremony to the following fall. None of the DSBN schools currently have a fall graduation.
“There was some clarification that we had to do about awards,” Gilmore tells The Local, a sister publication of ThoroldToday. “After the dates were sent out, there were a handful of principals who had to clarify, but it was again all about awards. We reassured them that they were not going to lose them.”
But the idea of having to return to classes and still write final exams did not sit well with Eden High School student Olivia Gillespie, who launched a change.org petition asking for the DSBN to reconsider the graduation date. At press time there were 3,377 signatures on the petition.
Her Eden classmate, Luke Midgley of Niagara-on-the-Lake, is one of those 3,377.
“I was a little surprised,” Midgley says. “When I think of graduation, I think of a culmination, or an end to something. It doesn’t feel the same that we have to go to class the next day.”
“When I heard about it I was confused about it,” says St. Davids resident Ayla Jamal, a member of Laura Secord’s class of 2024 and co-president of their student council. “It makes me upset that it’s happening before exams, and that we won’t even get our diplomas at that time. And we were the first class that didn’t get a Grade 8 graduation, either.”
Jamal’s classmate, rural NOTL resident Mackenzie Overweg, is also disappointed.
“I feel like we’re not getting the full graduation experience,” says Overweg. “We won’t have those classes finished. It’s a special day to get acknowledged; those who have put in the hard work and dedication deserve that. We should have the chance to walk across the stage with all of our classmates who have also put in that work.”
Gilmore explains that there are two reasons behind the DSBN’s change.
The first reason is operational. Gilmore says it’s difficult to hold graduations for all of the DSBN’s schools in one evening. And with the board growing to the point that some of the secondary schools have graduating classes of as many as 300 students, the schools are not able to host graduation ceremonies on site.
“It creates a wider window for schools to share rather than compete for those larger venues,” says Gilmore. “So that schools can invite more guests. It also gives staff more time to make thoughtful decisions around the board.”
The second reason relates to the DSBN’s new 2023-2028 strategic plan.
Released in October, the new five-year plan is called Redefining Excellence. It stresses the value of the uniqueness of each individual, with a key tenet being that the DSBN wants to be a “place where students can learn and grow at their own pace, in their own way.”
The plan goes on to focus on inclusion and full participation in learning, while the board promises to “examine and change policies, procedures and practices through an equity, inclusion and human rights lens to eliminate differential treatment and outcomes for sovereignty seeking and equity deserving groups.”
“Belonging is one of our priorities,” says Gilmore. “So, redefining grad is more of a commencement and a celebration of a student’s journey and accomplishments leading up to Grade 12. It creates that sense of belonging for everyone. We will continue to honour those traditional awards and graduation elements, but this will be an opportunity to create some new traditions that are more inclusive of all student experiences.”
That doesn’t sit well with Old Town resident Annika Janzen, another member of Laura Secord’s class of 2024..
“I want to have a proper graduation,” says Janzen. “I don’t like the idea that people who haven’t earned the right to graduate are going to be walking across the stage. If they can’t graduate this year then they should do a Grade 12B and have the experience next year.”
Her classmate Samantha Fretz feels a similar way.
“The whole point of graduation is to walk across the stage and get your diploma,” says Fretz, a Crossroads grad. “We didn’t get a graduation in Grade 8, and this feels sort of the same. It’s not a proper graduation. I hope they change it back, but if they don’t, I will probably still go.”
“When we get to a certain level of inclusivity,” Midgley adds, “I think we lose the value of what graduation really is. We’re supposed to be celebrating hard work and success. So it’s difficult for me to see this change.”
Gillespie, the originator of the petition, along with her classmate Manuela Jarrin, made an eloquent, impassioned appeal to the DSBN at the board’s December 5 meeting in an attempt to urge them to revert back to a late June graduation.
Though Gilmore insists that the DSBN strives to find ways to embed the student voice when and where it can and as often as possible, she says the decision to change the grad dates is firm.
“There are still many choices for schools to make with regard to planning these early celebrations,” adds Gilmore. “I encourage schools to create student grad committees, similar to prom committees, to help guide those decisions. It’s one of the reasons why we announced it so early, so we could give voice where we could give voice.”
But Midgley, for one, doesn’t feel the student voice is being heard, especially in light of the number of people who have signed the petition..
“To see such a movement and a desire for change, and to hear that, it’s very surprising,” says Midgley. “The fact that there is no attempt to hear us out, It doesn’t feel too empowering.”
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