Stokes school board hears gripes on graduation

Parents of students graduating from West and South Stokes high schools told school-board members last night that they were upset not only that graduations won't be held at the schools but also by how the board handled the decision.

After graduation last year, some people complained about the heat and urged school officials to find a way to hold graduations inside.

With that in mind, school officials asked this year's seniors whether they wanted to hold graduation at their school or at First Assembly of God in Winston-Salem.

Because the days that First Assembly was available were limited, that also meant moving up graduation by a week to June 6.

The seniors at North Stokes voted to keep graduation at their school. At West and South Stokes, the seniors voted for First Assembly, and at its January meeting, the members of the Stokes County Board of Education voted to hold graduations for West and South Stokes there.

During the public-comments portion of the board's meeting at Germanton Elementary School last night, nine parents expressed dismay at the decision. Other parents in the audience clapped after each parent's remarks.

Robert Money said that his daughter, Elizabeth, voted for the move only because it meant getting out of school earlier.

Several West Stokes parents said they were unhappy to learn that each family would be limited to eight tickets. Even though South Stokes students will be given 14 tickets because the class is smaller, South Stokes parents said that they thought graduation should be held at the school.

Pretty much all of the parents who spoke said that they felt as if they were not consulted.

"It all boils down to one simple question, ‘How could you not include a parent in something of this magnitude?'" asked Wink Radford.

Later, school-board members readily acknowledged that they thought that each West Stokes family would get more than eight tickets when they voted on the change.

"I'm as disappointed as anybody that it turned out to be eight," said board member Sonya Cox. "At no time did the board make a conscious decision to leave the parents out of the decision-making process."

Board members and Superintendent Stewart Hobbs said that they are working to see that the West Stokes families that need more tickets get them.

"We are going to try to accommodate everybody as best we can," said Bill Hart, the board chairman.

Hobbs said that students would not automatically be issued eight tickets. If a student needs only four, for instance, those other four could be passed along to families that needed more. Also, he said, First Assembly has a large foyer that can accommodate another 350 or so people who can watch the proceedings on monitors.

Board members pointed out that, if graduations were held at the schools and it rained forcing the ceremonies inside, families would be limited to only two tickets each. They also said that they would definitely take up the graduation issue earlier during the next school year.

After the meeting, parents Michelle McDaniel, Judi Holmes and Carolyn Rose said they were not satisfied with the proposed solution.

"I do not think it's going to work," Rose said.

In other business, the board:

□ Voted to use March 27 and June 10 to make up days missed for snow. Earlier the board had talked about using the final two days of spring break but decided against that after Hobbs said that school employees were adamant about not wanting spring break shortened.

□ Voted to buy two 10-room pods to serve as a temporary home for Nancy Reynolds Elementary School while the school is being restored or rebuilt during the 2009-2010 school year.

The two pods are made by Sunshine Manufactured Structures Inc. in Rockwell and sold through M Space Holding in Garner at a total cost of $660,878. The pods will be set up at Pinnacle Elementary School. Because the school system will have such additional costs as installing water, electrical and sewer systems, the total cost of the pods will be about $1 million.

■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.