GBHS Commencement planned for June 27
GBHS Commencement is still scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Memorial Stadium, Thexton said. Graduates will be on the football field as usual but they’ll be seated with appropriate spacing for social distancing. There should be room in the stadium for people to sit with their families but for groups to stay apart. The fact that the ceremony is outdoors will help, he said.
“It will be a traditional setting,” but there will be changes, Thexton said. The school board members and administrators won’t all be on the stage or shaking students’ hands.
“The high school is working on how that’s going to look. It will be a little different but we’re able to help our seniors have that closure that they deserve as graduates of Great Bend High School,” Thexton said.
More information will be provided as the final plans are made. In the event that a gathering at the stadium is not possible due to the pandemic, the district has an alternate plan for a drive-by ceremony.
Summer school got underway Monday in Great Bend USD 428 with 222 elementary students in classrooms. There were also 121 students at Great Bend Middle School and Great Bend High School, Assistant Superintendent John Popp told the school board Monday evening.
“These are students who have the greatest needs,” he said, “Students who have shown over the year they might need a little extra support.”
School is from 8:30-11:30 a.m. weekdays, June 8 through July 2, and is for select students who have finished kindergarten through the 12th grade.
“It’s an interesting time,” Superintendent Khris Thexton said. There are typically five to 10 people in a classroom at any time, including the teacher. Temperatures are checked at the door and students enter and leave the buildings at staggered times so that they can maintain social distancing.
The district offers free lunch and breakfast for students.
“You can grab your meals for the next day and head home,” Thexton said.
Popp said summer school is providing a good trial run for the fall semester. The district’s health and safety protocols are posted on the COVID-19 page on the website, greatbendschools.net.
“Right now, our plan is to start as normal in August, just as we always would,” Thexton said. But administrators and state officials are working on guidelines, and USD 428 principals planned to meet on Tuesday.
The district wants to share as much information as it can to give parents an opportunity to plan, Thexton said. “Our goal is to keep that line of communication open and share the information that we have as we create it. We’ll use the State Department of Education, KDHE (the Kansas Department of Health and Environment), and our local health department to best help guide us in that process.”
