May 8, 2008
UPDATED: VJMS to become VJJH; PHS graduation moved outside
For increased clarity, the whole message has been updated: The Board of Education of the Petersburg City Public Schools voted on Wednesday, May 7 to have Vernon Johns Middle School become Vernon Johns Junior High School. This fall, the school will have students in eighth and ninth grades, rather than the current setup of sixth through eighth grades.
The city’s other public middle school, Peabody, will remain as Peabody Middle School, but will have students in sixth and seventh grades. Petersburg High School will have students in the tenth to twelfth grades.
The changes are part of the district’s recently approved secondary schools restructuring efforts. The goal is to group students with other students closer to their age and maturity level and increase efficiency.
The name change proposal, as with all other components of the restructuring efforts, was shared with the public prior to the Board’s vote. A public hearing on the issue was held at VJMS on Wednesday, April 14.
In other news from the meeting:
• The Board was informed that Petersburg High School (PHS) will hold its graduation ceremony outside this year, as was traditional in the past. In case of rain, preparations will be in place to move the ceremony into the high school.
• The Board voted on Wednesday to approve a change in the PHS graduation time from Friday, June 6 at 6 p.m., to Friday, June 6, at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at the PHS football field. As a result of not having to use an inclement weather day this year, the entire district will be closed on June 6. The Board also voted to approve that change.
• The Board deferred adoption of the proposed 2008-2009 school calendar, to ensure that the final result will be representative of the requests of the teachers and other employees who served on the Calendar Committee.
The Board voted on Wednesday to approve a change in the PHS graduation time from Friday, June 6 at 6 p.m., to Friday, June 6, at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at the PHS football field. As a result of not having to use an inclement weather day this year, the entire district will be closed on June 6. The Board also voted to approve that change.
How do you have a graduation this early in the day what about those extended family members wanting to come in
Some explanation for the graduation move is given in this P-I editorial.
The school system addresses concerns about what steps it took to notify students and parents of the graduation time change:
I would like to comment in this regard. PPN receives PSAs from, e.g., the school system, along with the traditional news outlets. Depending on when we at PPN check the inbox, these announcements can go up as quick as immediately (not that they all do!). In contrast, print media for example may take a day or more to get the same announcement into hardcopy. I point this out because, if at any given moment someone should see a piece of information on this site but not in other venues, that should not be construed as evidence that the news hasn’t been sent out for wide distribution. Instead, it might just mean that the folks who wish to get the word out are reaching out to what are various available media in an effort to get the word out as soon as possible to as many people as possible, but that each of these media has different constraints its faces re: when such announcements will be published.
You will note that the graduation time change announcement went up on May 12 in the P-I, and on May 15 in the RTD.