Huge HS graduation time variation

[Anonymous]

I just saw that some schools are already graduating, while some don’t have graduation until June 11th!
Why the huge variation? (Is it simply about the graduations all being at the same location?)
How does school work in practicality when there are literally weeks of school more for some than others?
(Is there a lottery for these slots?)

[Anonymous]

FCPS is one of the biggest county in the USA. of course it will take a while. Eagle Bank can hold about 3 grades a date. They also share them with PWCS and LCPS. and Alexandria City High SCHOOL

[Anonymous]

Most of them are in June with the exception of some centers and alternative schools. The only reason Robinson's graduation was so early was due to a scheduling error. My understanding is there was a double booking and things had to be moved around. They don't normally graduate this early.

[Anonymous]

It is a rotating schedule.

Every year, they move a slot later.

This year, our high school should have been 6th on the schedule, but they are one of the last graduations. They must have a new person scheduling who did not follow the long standing tradition of moving the schools one slot later, then taking last year's last school and making it first.

Lucky Robinson though! It's like they won the Willy Wonka golden ticket!

[Anonymous]

I agree, OP, it's odd.

But it's also odd to me that students don't come to school the week before graduation. Where I grew up, graduation was after your last final exam on the last day of school. Seniors went 180 days just like freshmen.

FCPS has decided it is critical to allow everyone to bring as many guests as they want to graduation rather than limit tickets, so there are limited facilities that work. They schedule 3 graduations a day (90 minute arrival, 2 hours graduation, 90 minute clean up/set up for next graduation)--so 5 hour slots = 3 per day.

If people were okay with limiting graduation tickets to 4 per graduate, they could do it in the gyms on the last day and families could sit in bleachers. But i suspect there'd be mutiny over that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a rotating schedule.

Every year, they move a slot later.

This year, our high school should have been 6th on the schedule, but they are one of the last graduations. They must have a new person scheduling who did not follow the long standing tradition of moving the schools one slot later, then taking last year's last school and making it first.

Lucky Robinson though! It's like they won the Willy Wonka golden ticket!

I was gonna say the same thing at West Springfield we were first in 2022. Then 2023 we moved a day later. Now 2 years later we are at the end on June 9th! How did we skip so many time slots to be at the end?

I wish there was uniformity on school ending. The later schools have to go for 2 weeks longer than earlier schools? Painful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP, it's odd.

But it's also odd to me that students don't come to school the week before graduation. Where I grew up, graduation was after your last final exam on the last day of school. Seniors went 180 days just like freshmen.

FCPS has decided it is critical to allow everyone to bring as many guests as they want to graduation rather than limit tickets, so there are limited facilities that work. They schedule 3 graduations a day (90 minute arrival, 2 hours graduation, 90 minute clean up/set up for next graduation)--so 5 hour slots = 3 per day.

If people were okay with limiting graduation tickets to 4 per graduate, they could do it in the gyms on the last day and families could sit in bleachers. But i suspect there'd be mutiny over that too.

Please don't push to keep seniors in school through graduation.

Their finals and AP exams have been finished for weeks at this point.

Let them leave right after that.

Keeping them is pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a rotating schedule.

Every year, they move a slot later.

This year, our high school should have been 6th on the schedule, but they are one of the last graduations. They must have a new person scheduling who did not follow the long standing tradition of moving the schools one slot later, then taking last year's last school and making it first.

Lucky Robinson though! It's like they won the Willy Wonka golden ticket!

I was gonna say the same thing at West Springfield we were first in 2022. Then 2023 we moved a day later. Now 2 years later we are at the end on June 9th! How did we skip so many time slots to be at the end?

I wish there was uniformity on school ending. The later schools have to go for 2 weeks longer than earlier schools? Painful!

Wshs was actually 1st in 2020, but that was cancelled.

2021 was a weird schedule at Jiffy Lube, so it doesn't count.

It seemed like in 2022, WSHS was the 1st slot, 8AM (falling into the 1st slot that 2020 was supposed to have. If I remember correctly, FCPS just used the 2020 schedule for class of 2022.

Wshs was the 2nd day in 2023, 2PM on June 6, with graduations starting June 4 that year.

They were the 4th day for 2024, 9:30 AM on June 6.

It appears that the traditional move down one spot got messed up around 2023/2024 graduations.

Now there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the schedule, as if they drew the schools out of a hat.

The old system was much better. You could plan far in advance for things like travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP, it's odd.

But it's also odd to me that students don't come to school the week before graduation. Where I grew up, graduation was after your last final exam on the last day of school. Seniors went 180 days just like freshmen.

FCPS has decided it is critical to allow everyone to bring as many guests as they want to graduation rather than limit tickets, so there are limited facilities that work. They schedule 3 graduations a day (90 minute arrival, 2 hours graduation, 90 minute clean up/set up for next graduation)--so 5 hour slots = 3 per day.

If people were okay with limiting graduation tickets to 4 per graduate, they could do it in the gyms on the last day and families could sit in bleachers. But i suspect there'd be mutiny over that too.

Tell that to the schools that have to graduate at Constitution Hall! Five tickets per family. Not nearly enough for many families, leaving them begging for tickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP, it's odd.

But it's also odd to me that students don't come to school the week before graduation. Where I grew up, graduation was after your last final exam on the last day of school. Seniors went 180 days just like freshmen.

FCPS has decided it is critical to allow everyone to bring as many guests as they want to graduation rather than limit tickets, so there are limited facilities that work. They schedule 3 graduations a day (90 minute arrival, 2 hours graduation, 90 minute clean up/set up for next graduation)--so 5 hour slots = 3 per day.

If people were okay with limiting graduation tickets to 4 per graduate, they could do it in the gyms on the last day and families could sit in bleachers. But i suspect there'd be mutiny over that too.

Tell that to the schools that have to graduate at Constitution Hall! Five tickets per family. Not nearly enough for many families, leaving them begging for tickets.

The DAR graduation ticket scramble is crazy.

[Anonymous]

Could not attend my two APS grandchildren’s ceremony at Constitution Hall. Not suitable for elderly and parking atrocious. Eagle Bank the best! Have been to many there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a rotating schedule.

Every year, they move a slot later.

This year, our high school should have been 6th on the schedule, but they are one of the last graduations. They must have a new person scheduling who did not follow the long standing tradition of moving the schools one slot later, then taking last year's last school and making it first.

Lucky Robinson though! It's like they won the Willy Wonka golden ticket!

I was gonna say the same thing at West Springfield we were first in 2022. Then 2023 we moved a day later. Now 2 years later we are at the end on June 9th! How did we skip so many time slots to be at the end?

I wish there was uniformity on school ending. The later schools have to go for 2 weeks longer than earlier schools? Painful!

Wshs was actually 1st in 2020, but that was cancelled.

2021 was a weird schedule at Jiffy Lube, so it doesn't count.

It seemed like in 2022, WSHS was the 1st slot, 8AM (falling into the 1st slot that 2020 was supposed to have. If I remember correctly, FCPS just used the 2020 schedule for class of 2022.

Wshs was the 2nd day in 2023, 2PM on June 6, with graduations starting June 4 that year.

They were the 4th day for 2024, 9:30 AM on June 6.

It appears that the traditional move down one spot got messed up around 2023/2024 graduations.

Now there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the schedule, as if they drew the schools out of a hat.

The old system was much better. You could plan far in advance for things like travel.

Exactly so we expected June 2 or so. Not the 9th!!

[Anonymous]

How can we get Constitution Hall changed? We have one coming up in 4 years and I want to start working on this now. Who had the power? The PTA? School board? Who’s on board to get Madison moved elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

Jfc stfu about graduation

It’s literally been like this for 2 decades

Some of y’all trigger AF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, OP, it's odd.

But it's also odd to me that students don't come to school the week before graduation. Where I grew up, graduation was after your last final exam on the last day of school. Seniors went 180 days just like freshmen.

FCPS has decided it is critical to allow everyone to bring as many guests as they want to graduation rather than limit tickets, so there are limited facilities that work. They schedule 3 graduations a day (90 minute arrival, 2 hours graduation, 90 minute clean up/set up for next graduation)--so 5 hour slots = 3 per day.

If people were okay with limiting graduation tickets to 4 per graduate, they could do it in the gyms on the last day and families could sit in bleachers. But i suspect there'd be mutiny over that too.

I would bet money that your high school in the 1980s did not go a full month after AP exams and classwork ended, just to sit in the building through mid June with nothing to do but watch movies (June 17th in the case of next year's seniors, which is more than a month after the last AP exam.)