UMBC for graduation?????
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Anonymous
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Renting equipment, stages, chairs, etc. is more expensive than a 3 hour rental at UMBC.
The year that HSs did outdoor events during COVID, there were SO MANY calls for service for heat exhaustion and other medical emergencies. DAR was a crappy experience for attendees for decades. Expensive parking blocks away, crowded, and outdated. |
Anonymous
I don't have that information (sounds like you do-so feel free to share), but you're not including the costs of busing people to UMBC, and the costs MCPS is imposing on its community to drive 1 hour to get to UMBC. |
Anonymous
They are just shifting the costs. They aren’t going to bus that many people. |
Anonymous
Schools usually cost share graduation. I’d donate. |
Anonymous
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I think MCPS made a rational decision that simplifies the process, solves multiple common complaints, and probably makes financial sense. Of course, this solution also introduces new complaints, one of which they’re trying to address by providing buses.
However, different school communities have different priorities and capabilities. I have no problem with individual schools telling Central Office thanks, but no thanks, and making their own graduation ceremony arrangements at their own expense if that’s what the majority of that school community wants. |
Anonymous
Perhaps the UMBC decision makes financial sense for MCPS. But the outcry you're hearing is that this MCPS decision is simply shifting costs from MCPS to the school's communities, particularly for schools that are a long drive from UMBC. If MCPS decided to cut public school buses, and tell parents to drive their children daily if they wanted to attend school, that would be a financial savings to them, but that would not be a rational decision that maximizes well-being of the communities. |
Anonymous
| Who cares about high school graduation ceremony. Y'all have too much time on your hands. It's a participation trophy |
Anonymous
+1 Too much time on our hands to worry about where our kids graduate? You sound dim. |
Anonymous
It is if you have to be there two hours before the ceremony, and the time slot is 9 am. So we’re leaving the house at 6am. Getting up at 5am? Sounds like the start of an exhausting day. |
Anonymous
Yes. In fact, one school is massive. |
Anonymous
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In 2023, the cost was $34,400 to have the graduation at Wheaton. That included equipment rental including stage, chairs and sound system, setup & takedown and other costs. MCPS contributed a set amount per pupil and it equalled $12,000. The school was to come up with $22,400. I don’t have current costs.
If Damascus has their own equipment and manpower, their costs may be different. |
Anonymous
+1 It's a major inconvenience to people in many parts of the country. Damascus parents wouldn't be offering to pay their own money to avoid this situation if it weren't a problem. |
Anonymous
The same thing you'd do if you had a 9am flight out of BWI. I don't see the big deal. It's one day of your life. |
Anonymous
5am, and out at 6? You're fast.Traffic.Walking from parking lot to doors. Seating and maybe going to bathroom time. |
Anonymous
It's one day of your life WHEN YOUR KID IS GRADUATING. Make some effort people. |