Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Construction work starting soon at Shawano Community Middle School is forcing officials to consider changes in the traditional graduation ceremony for the 2016 class of eighth-graders.
The changes might become permanent, as school district administrators try to reign in an event that some think has grown too elaborate for students with four more years of formal education ahead of them.
Parents have complained loudly since learning that officials intended to scrap the traditional pomp-and-circumstance ceremony, where eighth-grade students dressed up and were honored before an audience of parents and grandparents.
Officials have since agreed to try salvaging some sort of event, but they still believe the momentary inconvenience of construction work has created an opportunity to put the middle school event into perspective.
District Superintendent Gary Cumberland said some students dressed in formal wear and arrived in limousines, elevating the eighth-grade event to a level that he said should be reserved for high school graduation.
“Yeah, you reached a milestone,” Cumberland said of the middle schoolers. “But you haven’t reached the milestone.”
Parents have offered mixed reactions, including many who believe that changing tradition to downgrade the eighth-grade celebration would have the effect of diminishing their children’s accomplishments.
Sandra Baller, whose son is graduating from eighth grade this year, said she had invited family members from out-of-state to watch her son walk across the stage and be honored for completing elementary school.
“He’s not perfect, but he goes to school and he tries hard,” Baller said. “He should be recognized.”
The issue arose after voters in the school district approved a referendum last November to undertake a multimillion-dollar renovation of the aging middle school at 1050 S. Union St. Work is scheduled to begin this spring in the school’s gymnasium, where graduation events are usually held, and other facilities.
Saying they could not find suitable facilities elsewhere, officials notified parents last month that the pomp-and-circumstance event this June would be dropped in favor of a lesser event to which family members would not be invited. A traditional student dinner and dance would continue in a new location, at Shawano Community High School, and parents would be welcome to attend and take pictures there.
Terri Laatsch, whose daughter is in eighth grade, acknowledged that some parents feel the ceremony had grown too large in scope and significance. Laatsch, however, said she believes the celebration motivated students to try hard in high school, so they could enjoy another graduation in four years.
“It’s a nice event for the kids,” she said. “They look forward to this the entire school year.”
Added Jennifer Moses, another parent: “A lot of the students do feel shortchanged.”
The Class of 2016 is expected to include about 165 eighth-graders.
After hearing parent reaction to the changes, administrators agreed to reconsider.
Mary Kramer, principal of the middle school, said she is working to arrange an event at the high school with a limited amount of space available for family members. Some family might have to watch via closed-circuit TV.
Kramer said the ceremony will not include a band or orchestra performing the pomp-and-circumstance music. Officials are not trying to diminish the experience for students, she said, but they want to mark the middle school graduation as a simple transition.
“I think we should be putting it into perspective,” she said.
Officials call the occasion a “promotion” rather than a graduation, and they have talked about having a high school representative in attendance to greet each graduate with a symbolic welcome to the high school.
Eighth-graders also are doing something new this year: custom T-shirts based on a design chosen by the graduates.
Cumberland said officials would re-evaluate after this year. The middle school construction has raised the issue, but Cumberland said he had already grown uncomfortable with the scope of the middle school graduation as it has evolved over the years.
“I’ve always wanted to get away from it,” he said. “It was kind of getting over the edge.”