Houlton High School changes date of graduation
The calendar may only say it is January, but local school districts are already looking ahead to June and what to do about their end-of-the-year activities.
All five local school systems— RSU 29, SAD 70, RSU 50, SAD 14 and Greater Houlton Christian Academy — have experienced three “snow days” with plenty of winter yet to come. None of the school districts factor snow days into their school calendar, which means every time school is cancelled because of the weather, an additional day is added on to the end of the year.
Every school district is required by law to have 175 student days but seniors, however, are only required to attend 170 days.
Because of the very real possibility of additional snow days in the months of January, February and March, RSU 29 (Houlton, Littleton, Monticello, Hammond) has decided to push back its graduation from Thursday, June 4 to Thursday, June 11.
“This decision was reached in collaboration with the RSU 29 School Board, administration and students,” Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard said. “We had to make the decision now, because people make plans. Plus we order graduation announcements in the month of January.”
According to Bouchard, Houlton did not offer the option of Saturday make-up sessions for its senior class for a number of reasons.
“Saturdays for the entire district were discussed, however, at this time it was decided not to pursue having the students attend on Saturdays,” Bouchard said. “It is very difficult to have good attendance on Saturdays, as people really are not planning on it and really want a day off.
“We were also concerned about not taking away from valuable class time for our seniors,” he continued. “Many of them are taking rigorous classes that have required content. Some of our classes really need the extra week to get through their required curriculum.”
SAD 70 has opted not to change its graduation date of Friday, June 5. What this means is that if there are any additional snow days, seniors at Hodgdon High School will have to make up those days during Saturday sessions.
SAD 70 Superintendent Scott Richardson asked his board Monday evening if it wished to change the date of graduation to avoid any conflicts with Saturday sessions. However, he stated he did not recommend the change.
Hodgdon High School Principal Mary Harbison said she met with the senior class and the consensus was that the seniors preferred to keep graduation as June 5, even if it meant they would have to attend Saturday sessions.
“As of right now, we are OK,” Harbison said. “Graduation will be our 170th day. “That includes counting the Saturday and Sunday of the senior trip, which we have done in years past.”
The Saturday sessions will not be regular classroom time, explained Harbison. In years past, she said the district has taken seniors to Bangor to view a movie that, in some way, matched up with some of their curriculum. Those movies included “The Great Gatsby” and “42,” the story of Jackie Robinson.
“Some other options (for Saturdays) that the kids came up with were doing a workshop day, where they could come take ‘mini-classes’ like maybe a self-defense class, financial literacy or first aid/CPR,” Harbison explained.
Harbison said she was also in contact with Jane Torres of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce to see if there were any activities coming up where students could volunteer their time and have that count as full day of school. Volunteering at the Moosestompers winter carnival was one of the suggestions.
“We could do some community service days,” Harbison said.
Both Harbison and Guidance Director Bernadette Willette said they were willing to volunteer their time without pay on those days.
RSU 50 Superintendent Larry Malone said Tuesday morning that there have been no discussions to change the dates of graduation at SACS or Kathadin High School.
“We are sticking with our current dates of Friday, June 12 for SACS and Saturday, June 13 for Kathadin,” Malone said. “We moved these dates a couple of years ago to try to avoid snow day issues and these dates have worked.”
Presently, the final day of classes for both schools in RSU 50 is Tuesday, June 16.
East Grand Principal Dawn Matthews (SAD 14) said graduation will be Thursday, June 11, with the final day of classes slated for June 16. Any additional snow days would push back the final day of regular classes, but should not impact graduation.
Likewise, Greater Houlton Christian Academy has not made any changes to its graduation plans, with the final class day listed as Friday, June 5, with graduation following on June 6.
