The school calendar is jam-packed with an array of special events as the 2019-2020 academic year comes to a close at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.
Yet the Class of 2020 is feeling robbed in so many ways. As long as school remains closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there won’t be the final spring play on May 1 and 2, or band concert and awards on May 6, or AP art show on May 8, or spring athletic awards banquet on May 18.
So H-F is trying its best to give seniors a virtual prom on May 16 and virtual graduation planned for May 31.
Principal Jerry Anderson, administrators and student leaders have been discussing plans to move forward. Parents will receive letters outlining options being considered.
“The thing that we don’t want to do is get into a situation where we just procrastinate and put things off and be hopeful and then the kids get to do nothing,” she told members of the District 233 board and interested parents who were online for the board’s remote meeting on Tuesday, April 7.
Anderson said she is devising a Plan A (virtual) and a Plan B (traditional). The Illinois State Board of Education has called for schools to be closed and learning done remotely through April 30.
Anderson is hoping H-F will be able to have its traditional graduation on the football field, but until the state issues a new directive on how school will be conducted in the month of May, H-F can’t make a commitment on what plan will work best.
“We want to be sure that we can have something to celebrate our seniors,” she stressed.
A virtual prom celebration will include a broadcast over WHFH radio FM 88.5 with a live announcer. This plan will give students the chance to dance together and use a Twitter account to post photos and see each other using a special hashtag.
Anderson envisions the Honors Convocation, set for May 20, to be a pre-recorded video using H-F’s VTV station. The program format will look like the Academy Awards with information on the award, and then the announcer saying, “And the winner is …” with a photo and information on the senior being honored.
A virtual graduation will be streamed so families and graduates can view the program featuring snippets of each graduating senior. Speeches will be pre-recorded and fed into the program. Anderson said seniors will receive their caps and gowns at home.
“I say to the student groups I’ve been meeting with if we have to go with this Plan A, we’ll be sure to have a senior gathering of some type for the Class of 2020 when it’s safe to do so,” Anderson said.