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Some Hazelwood Parents Object to Graduation Dates
BY CAROL ARNETT
Several parents came before the Hazelwood School Board to complain about the scheduling of next year’s graduation ceremonies. This year, all three high schools will graduate on the same day, at different times. All three ceremonies will take place at the Touhill Center on the University of Missouri – St. Louis campus.
The ceremonies are scheduled for May 19, 2007. This the same day that the Missouri State High School Athletics Association has scheduled boys tennis and track and field sectionals.
“This is unfair to student athletes,” parent Mike Conley said. “The date for sporting events is posted four years in advance by the state association,” he said. He stated that a potential valedictorian from Hazelwood East must choose between attending graduation and attending sectionals.
Conley said that the district has told him the conflict would affect only 19 students. ”
If your child is on of those 19, it’s a big deal,” he said. He also questioned the number, saying that entire teams are affected when some students must miss a meet. He also said that students who may not qualify for the meet themselves would normally go and support their teammates who did qualify.
Other parents told the board that they did not like all three schools using the same building on the same day, saying that they feared the events would be rushed and parking would be a problem.
In other matters , the council heard an update on the district’s Minority Participation Program. Nicole Adewale, from ABNA Engineering, and Gloria Carter-Hicks, from Hicks Carter Hicks, spoke to the council. The school district has hired both firms to help achieve their minority participation goals in new construction.
Adewale and Carter-Hicks updated the board on what their companies had done thus far to increase minority participation.
Board President James Donahue pointed out that although the district has been criticized for not meeting its goals, most districts in the area do not even set goals. “We are trying to increase minority participation,” Donahue said. “We have made real effort in this area.”
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