Yorkville School District officials looking at different options for YHS graduation

YORKVILLE – Yorkville school officials are looking at other options for high school graduation as they await further guidance from the State of Illinois about what should be done about prom and graduation dates in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Tim Shimp, superintendent for Yorkville School District 115, said during the district's Board of Education remote special meeting on Wednesday, April 15 that he is anticipating more items coming before the school board for their April 27 meeting. In the meantime, he said, district officials will be watching for directives from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

“There are rumors that this week at some point he’s going to give direction on graduation or his thoughts related to graduation,” Shimp said.

According to the Yorkville High School events calendar, prom was scheduled for May 2 in Aurora and graduation was scheduled for May 15 at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center in DeKalb. Pritzker's stay-at-home order currently extends to April 30.

Shimp said district officials have been in close contact with Yorkville High School principal Dave Travis on those matters.

With those two dates coming up within the month, Travis said the current challenge for prom and graduation plans is how certain scenarios would play out, like if future guidance included gatherings of only a portion of students at a time. He said school officials will hopefully get some clarity from the governor sooner rather than later.

"But we've got number of contingency plans in place ... within the guidance that we have been given," Travis said.

Shimp said school and district staff have been looking at a variety of options for graduation for the Yorkville High School Class of 2020 – everything from holding it on the high school's football field to having it in small groups that rotate.

Shimp said the possibility of a virtual graduation is also on the table.

“We will do something to recognize our seniors, it’s just a matter if and when we’re given latitude or not," Shimp said.

Even if school officials aren't given that latitude, Shimp said, the school will have something – even if it’s having families come in one at a time to walk across the stage and take pictures and the district puts a video together.

“We’re working with production companies and we’ll make it right,” Shimp said.

Shimp said that, as of Wednesday, there was no directive on when schools will reopen for traditional in-person session. He said it's still April 30 per the governor's order, but there has been a lot of discussion among superintendents about the possibility of that being extended out.

“The likelihood of us coming back physically is very small," Shimp said. "It just wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for two or three weeks.”

Shimp said on Wednesday he was prepared to share what everything will look like going forward in the short and long term at end of April, when he also will look for the school board's input and direction.

The comments came before Oswego High School and Oswego East High School's graduation was rescheduled to June 27 at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center in DeKalb. Oswego East's prom was rescheduled to June 18 and OHS's prom was rescheduled to June 20.

Travis said school staff will remain in communication with families and students regarding any changes in plans for either date.

Travis said the current circumstances surrounding the coronavirus has been really tough for the high school's seniors. He said these are the types of experiences that everyone has or expects to have per tradition.

"If we can do anything to make those experiences happen for our kids, we will, within those perameters for health of safety," Travis said.