VALDOSTA – Lowndes High School announced its graduation plans during the board meeting Monday evening. 

Superintendent Wes Taylor and Lowndes High School Principal Leanne McCall said, after a lot of discussions, the tentative date for Lowndes’ graduation will be June 13.

They said they hope graduation can be held in Martin Stadium as it normally is, but will have a backup plan prepared just in case.

“We have put a lot of thought into this and had to have a date certain so people can begin to plan,” Taylor said. 

The school plans to use May 26-28 as three full days of filming what would become a “virtual graduation.”

This will be done in the cafeteria with small groups of students being allowed to walk across the stage at a time with immediate family in attendance. Speeches and photographs of the graduates with diplomas would be done in traditional fashion.

After all these portions are filmed during the course of those days, the film would be professionally edited to create one cohesive graduation that can be viewed should the school system be unable to hold the physical graduation ceremony.

“We feel this is a safe way to still maintain social distancing,” McCall said.

McCall explained that, while many dates were considered, June 13 made the most sense as students who are leaving for the military and college may not be around later in the summer.

The school system should know by June 5 if the physical graduation can happen, which McCall added gives the school some time to see if Gov. Brian Kemp makes any new announcements at the end of May. 

McCall said Lowndes is trying to give the class of 2020 multiple events of recognition with the recent senior parade and the upcoming light up the campus event. Seniors have also been given yard signs and their names are being displayed on the marquee.

At a previous Valdosta Board of Education meeting, Valdosta High School announced it plans to have its graduation in Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, 8:30 p.m., June 26, with prom held the following day. 

The Valdosta Board of Education will be holding its board meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, via Facebook livestream. The next Lowndes Board of Education meeting will be 6 p.m., June 8.