Prince William County School Board wants Gov to drop social distancing for outdoor graduations
Parents in Prince William County want Governor Ralph Northam to drop social distancing for outdoor graduations
Parents in at least one Northern Virginia school district say social distancing rules outdoors are stricter than those indoors - and they want them dropped for in-person graduation ceremonies that are held outdoors.
The Prince William County School Board is asking Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to waive social distance requirements for upcoming outdoor graduations.
READ MORE: Prince William County schools plan for fall includes in-person learning 5 days a week
"In school our students are three-feet apart from one another. So indoors the requirement is three-feet apart, why would outdoors – in an outdoor arena – be six-feet? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense," Board Chairman Babur Lateef told Fox 5 Thursday.
Here’s the deal: As previously reported by Inside Nova, Prince William County has 12 outdoor graduation ceremonies coming up at Jiffy Lube Live. Right now, because of six-feet social distancing rules for outdoor graduations in Virginia, Lateef said it doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for spaced out seating. So for instance, if a school has 750 graduates, which is the case for larger schools, Lateef said that leaves them with two tickets per family, at best.
It wouldn’t be an issue at all if the governor waives the social distancing requirement altogether, which he has already said he’s likely to do that on June 15. County officials added that even if Northam just changed the requirement to three-feet instead of six, they’d be able to give each student four to five tickets, instead of two.
That would be big for people like Jen Wall. She’s a school board member and the mom of Naomi, a soon-to-be graduate.
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"The social distancing requirement makes it really tough for us to get even a small number of loved ones together for the graduation," Wall said. "At some point common sense has to take over."
Governor Northam’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.