BHS graduation is July 11

On Monday evening, the Blytheville School Board learned this year’s plans for the Class of 2020’s graduation ceremony.

Superintendent Bobby Ashley said, “The state had given us some guidelines for what to do if we were to have the ceremony outside. We submitted our plan last week and it was approved. The graduation will be held on July 11 at 9:30 a.m. at Haley Field. We are only allowed to have 66 percent capacity and we will be practicing social distancing in the stands and on the field.”

According to Blytheville High School Principal Jennifer Blankenship, every student will receive 10 tickets, families are allowed to sit together and masks will be required. Ashley stated that the leadership team is working on different plans for the reentry of the school year, which all depend on the status of COVID-19 in the area.

“We are having to decide what reentry is going to look like. We have put together a plan after looking at several different options,” Ashley said. “The plan that we want to go with is where our schools will be open and parents will feel free to send their kids to school. We will do the best we can do to make sure our children are being safe and practicing as much social distancing that they can. The other option is virtual learning which students will have to commit to for a semester. The numbers do not look great right now, but three weeks before school we may have to go back to total virtual learning and we will be prepared for that also.”