Mid-Del revises plans for high school graduation

Del City High School graduates toss caps into the air following the 2024 commencement ceremony at Jim Norick Arena. Photo by Jeff Harrison

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

Mid-Del Schools is planning to have all three high school graduations in one day.

The school board last week approved a change to the 2024-25 academic calendar that would allow graduations to take place on Monday, May 19 at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds.
Superintendent Rick Cobb said they prefer to have graduation on the same day rather than having to schedule three separate nights. Mid-Del had graduations on separate nights this year, which included one that started at 5 p.m. and another at 8 p.m.

The Fairgrounds is not available on other weekend dates before the last day of school on May 21.

“When you have three high schools the best option is we can have them all in one day,” Cobb said. “It makes for a long day, but it works out. That Saturday (May 19) is taken by another district – one that only has one high school.”

Cobb presented the board with three options at the Aug. 12 meeting. They could have voted to keep the calendar as is, and schedule graduations on three separate days. The second option was to make May 19 a remote learning day. Option three was to make May 19 a non-instructional day, which would replace one of the district’s banked “snow days.”

The board voted for the third option.

Cobb said he would like to encourage the Fairgrounds to allow districts to plan their graduations more than one year in advance. Due to the construction at the Fairgrounds, Cobb said the specific building where they will hold graduation is not certain.