All ceremonies will be live streamed on the district’s YouTube channel
A video highlighting what to expect during the graduation ceremony is here.
Venue
We are excited to share that this year’s graduation will be held on June 27, 2021 at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in their amphitheater, located directly behind the museum. In the event of inclement weather, graduation will still be held at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in one of the nearby Market Sheds. We will be following the N.Y. State Department of Health guidelines for graduation ceremonies.
Ceremony Plan
Our NYS DOH guidance allows for outdoor events with up to 500 attendees without requiring proof of either vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of attendance. To accommodate this threshold, we are planning to hold three ceremonies of approximately 75 minutes in length or less. Our current timeline will have Ceremony #1 beginning at 9:00 am, Ceremony #2 at 11:15 am, and Ceremony #3 at 1:30 pm. Graduates and guests will need to arrive 30 minutes prior to the start of their assigned ceremony. Final times and guidance will be provided as we get closer to the event.
Students will be assigned one of the three ceremony times and each graduate will be allowed guest tickets for their ceremony (4 tickets if outdoors as planned, 2 if indoors due to inclement weather). Assigned ceremony times will not be changed and there will be no additional tickets available. The ceremonies will be live streamed so that anyone, anywhere, can view them in real time. The ceremonies will be live streamed on the district’s YouTube channel.
Student assignment to ceremonies will be shared no later than Thursday, June 24th. The last day of classes for students was later than in past years due to many of the Regents exams being cancelled. This led to assignments being turned in at the later date which pushed back grading. We wanted to make sure we provided our students with the opportunity to complete their graduation requirements.
The graduation planning committee will remain responsive, within the boundaries of our venue options and timing, to any updated guidance provided from the NYS Department of Health.
Contact Information for Tracing
One attendee from each attending party/household/family must sign-in immediately upon arrival to graduation, providing their full name, address, email, and phone number for use in potential contact tracing efforts, if necessary. All guests must be pre-registered. Please pre-register by filling out the online form by June 25.
Face Coverings
All guests attending graduation are required to wear a mask, covering their nose and mouth, if they are not vaccinated.
Students will be required to wear a mask when moving (i.e., processional, receiving diploma, and recessional) but may remove their mask for their individual picture following their receipt of their diploma and when seated in their chair.
Health Screening
All guests will also comply with a health screening, as outlined by the NYS DOH, consisting of “questions regarding current or recent COVID-19 symptoms (e.g., temperature in excess of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit), close or proximate contact with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case(s), recent positive COVID-19 test result(s), and compliance with State’s travel advisory. Entry to the event must be denied to any attendee who fails the health screening questionnaire, as well as any members of the attendee’s party who may have been in close contact with such patron within the past 10 days (e.g., family members, individuals who share the same residence).”
Social Distancing
All guests must remain seated at their assigned seats during the ceremony. NYS DOH guidance states, “attendees must practice social distancing by maintaining a distance of, at least, six feet from other individuals, except for members of the same immediate party/household/family.” There will be a professional photographer taking individual graduate photos during the ceremony. Those photos will be mailed home, free of charge.
Following the graduates’ recessional, guests will be directed to a space on the grounds where photos can be taken outside of the amphitheater area. This will allow us to clean and sanitize prior to the next ceremony. We are on a tight schedule and will need everyone’s cooperation to give proper and equal attention to all three ceremonies. Due to capacity constraints all graduates and guests need to exit the venue within 15 minutes after the conclusion of the ceremony.
Distribution of Graduation Items
Cap and gown distribution took place outside of the main office on Friday, June 11th from 4 pm-7pm and Saturday June 12 from 10 am-12 noon. If you did not pick up your cap and gown you need to contact our Guidance Department at 845-794-8840, extension 10951.
Future Updates
Guidance documents are everchanging in response to our circumstances and we may need to make adjustments to the current plan based on those changes. Updates to this plan will occur through postings on the high school website and notifications through our SchoolMessenger service. As of June 4, 2021 we will not plan to make adjustments to our graduation plan, unless required by NYS guidance, so that we can give proper attention to planning a well-deserved celebration of our incredible graduates.