FOR RELEASE: June 7, 2020
CONTACT: David Albert
(518) 320-2221 cell
The governor’s announcement today allowing outdoor high school graduation ceremonies for up to 150 people is welcome news, and a step toward allowing a more traditional graduation ceremony. While we understand the need to continue to be vigilant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, school board members remain hopeful that the governor will allow graduating seniors the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a full high school graduation experience, albeit with appropriate safeguards in place to protect public health.
On school board elections and budget votes, the governor’s forthcoming executive order which extends the time for school districts to receive absentee ballots by mail through June 16 will help those districts that, through no fault of their own, faced problems with vendors in getting absentee ballots out on time. However, in extending the deadline for every school district, the executive order will likely cause confusion among voters in districts that did not face supply chain issues, thereby adding to what has been an extremely frustrating, costly and cumbersome board election and school budget vote process.
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