East Otero School District

May 28, 2020 Special School Board Meeting La Junta Intermediate School 6:30 PM

La Junta High School Graduation Information EAST OTERO SCHOOL DISTRICT R-1 May 8, 2020 Hello Tigers! One thing we have all learned through this pandemic is that anything can change at the drop of a hat! Just a couple of days after we put out our plan for graduation, new guidelines were released which contradicted our plans. In cooperation with our local health department, we are following the guidance and directives of our public health orders and have revised our plan. It is still absolutely critical that each student and his/her guests follow the guidelines of the Safer At Home Public Health Order 20-28. Any person who chooses not to follow the orders will be asked to leave and will not be allowed to participate in the ceremony. They also will receive their diploma and awards at a later date via mail. Fortunately, we had developed several plans and we have arrived at a plan that we feel directly follows the guidelines and requirements of the public health orders. Graduation will still take place at 7:30 pm on Sunday, May 17, but it will be an outside event at Tiger Stadium. On Thursday, May 14, all seniors will be required to go through assigned times for checkout procedures. They will receive their cords, awards, and also check in books and computers. Those notices of times will be sent through the high school administration. In order for this event to happen, we need each graduate and family to do everything within their power to ensure all directions are followed. We have coordinated with the Health Department, the City of La Junta, the Otero County Sheriff Department, and the school district to make sure we do everything we can to not only ensure the safety of everyone, but also try to provide the best possible event for our young adults! We will be releasing an instructional video on Friday, May 8 to help people have a visual picture of what the process will look like. Students will be allowed to have up to 4 guests to accompany them to the event but they all must be able to fit into one vehicle. The car line-up will run from 22nd and Bradish (near 22nd St. Baseball Field) up to the south gym parking lot. Only 3 cars at a time will actually enter the parking lot. There will be ushers and security to make sure that all directions are followed. There will be no public traffic in the area surrounding the gym until the event is finished. Once into the parking lot, the student and their guests will be allowed to enter the stadium and the student will walk down to the field to pick up their diploma. The guests will go to the center section of the bleachers to watch and support their graduate. Once the student has picked up his/her diploma, we will take their picture with the Principal and board member and exit through the north side of the field area and walk up the stairs to reunite with their guests. Once reunited with their family, we will have a photographer behind the pressbox area to take pictures for the family. Once that is complete, the student and family will exit the stadium and return to their vehicle where they will exit onto Smithland northbound. As one car leaves the parking lot, another will be allowed to enter. We will still pre-record the valedictory and salutatory address and names will be read, pomp and circumstance will play, and the radio station will air the event live. We also will livestream the event. With the movement of the event outdoors, we are allowed to socially space and utilize the pressbox so we can much better space and protect everyone. It also allowed for each graduate to have 4 guests as opposed to 2 in the indoor plan. We cannot go above that number in order to stay below the 10 allowed in the order. Please respect that we worked extremely hard to find a way to arrive at an acceptable solution to meet this need. We all know that we are in very uncertain times and are doing our best to give the students the most positive and memorable experience allowed. Thanks for all of your support! Tiger Pride!!! Rick Lovato, Superintendent

Update 5/12.2020