Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home High School graduates marched on the school office Friday morning after learning that their graduation ceremonies would be held indoors instead of outside at Husky Field.
The week before, the seniors got together to plan out the week’s activities, senior Marcus DeLong said. “Rob Younger – He’s been directing it for 25 years. He knows what he’s doing. – tells us there’s no way we can get the 5,000 average (attending) inside.”
Parents received letters saying the ceremony would be held outdoors, DeLong said Friday afternoon.
Then on Wednesday, Principal Pat Stineff told the student body that the decision whether to hold the ceremony indoors or outdoors would be made Friday morning, DeLong said.
DeLong found out it would be held indoors at 9 a.m. on Friday. “I have family coming from out of state. Maybe there’s an opportunity they might not be able to go.”
Some of his friends had 10 to 15 planning to attend graduation, he said. “Now those people aren’t going to get an opportunity to come. We were promised we would have it outside, and now we can’t.”
He said he went to Stineff’s office and found 2008 valedictorian Bryan Warth pleading with Stineff to hold it outdoors.
“Weather is a big deal around here, but we’re used to it,” DeLong said. Three years ago, the rain was pouring at graduation.
Stineff’s response led the seniors to believe their opinion didn’t count, that staff comes first, DeLong said. Outside the gym were 150 seniors waiting for rehearsal, but they didn’t want to go inside. They marched to the school office.
Assistant Principal Dave Goetz asked them to go back outside, and they complied, DeLong said. “The attitude that came from Mrs. Stineff herself kind of set us off. She didn’t give us a chance to do what we wanted.
“It’s not a celebration for the school. It’s something we earned. It’s our night, not theirs.”
Tracy Smith told the School Board Monday night that she was among those who were upset about the decision.
Along with other members of the Sportsman’s Holiday Court, who were introduced to the board Monday night, she told the board that with the cold weather, she was glad it was held inside.
“I had to go up to (Younger) and apologize,” Smith said. “He made the right decision.”
“We’ve been watching the weather all week,” Stineff said. “Last week, it was great. We had to make a decision this morning.”
Younger might have told the seniors it would be held outdoors, Stineff said, but the decision Friday was about more than rain.
“I think the biggest problem is the cold,” Stineff said Friday afternoon. “A little while ago, it was horizontal (rain) and cold.”
Sitting in rainy weather with temperatures at 45 degrees or less for two hours is not any fun, she said. “We had to call it about 6:30 a.m.”
Rather than having students getting sick or trying to cover students and staff in tents, which would have blocked spectators’ view of the graduates, school officials chose to move the ceremony indoors for the first time since the early 1990s, Stineff said.
“We knew people would be upset,” she said. “It was not an easy decision to make. We’ve been agonizing over this for some time.”
After the seniors asked “why wouldn’t you include us in the decision,” Stineff said she responded by asking “why would we?”
It’s a decision school staff must make, she said, not that staff comes before students.
The seniors made their point, and they settled in to attend the graduation that some had talked about boycotting.
“That’s a tough decision he (Younger) has to make,” DeLong said. “He made the decision he thought was right, that he thought was best. We’re going to make the best of the situation.”