Graduation experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a morning slot of UMBC and the grads had to leave our house by 6:30 to get there, so it was a little exhausting. They were told they couldn't use the bathrooms between 7:30 and when it finished at noon, which I thought was ridiculous, but may not have been fully enforced (I did see 1-2 sneak out). It wasn't great and I agree that the crowd control coming out was not great, but I didn't see anyone getting body-checked. Agree it's a little bit of a bummer that there's not someplace nice to gather as we came out. The next HS was already coming in as we were leaving, so it really was crowded and no place to really gather/celebrate (small grassy area to the left of the entrance, but it was pretty crowded). File this all under "MCPS is an enormous system with HSs that are way too big so there are some issues that flow from that."

Also, do they have to let the BOE people speak? That was the worst part. No one wanted to hear her, and her speech was bad. I would say the high points for us were the orchestra, chorus and the principal's speech. The orchestra really did very well.

Ours was the board member with the short hair. Her speech was horrible and thinly vailed virtue signaling but I think she was also the one reading the names and was going way to fast and not pausing when people cheered so you couldn't hear the next name. If they had cut one of the other miserable speeches maybe they would have had time to allow a beat between the names. It was disgracefully rude to the graduates imo.

Exactly. No one cares about a Board Member's speech. And there is no need to have more than one speech in addition to the Principal's. Everyone wants to hear their graduate's name so allow for time between names for people to cheer/celebrate. Do we parents have to come up with every idea in the largest school district in MD. Sheesh 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would all high schools be able to give out 5 tickets/student if held at their school's field?

You are all asking the wrong questions. The question shpuld be, why are property taxes so high but my child is packed in a school with 700 other seniors. Surely they aren't getting any personalized attention at school! Is this why Darla doesn't understand basic spelling rules? If this county has such a large budget why can't my sga speakers compose a meaningful graduation speech? Am I an idiot for voting for the same bs every 2-4 years?

Of course you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear OP,
I understand being disappointed when you’ve envisioned a very special event and reality doesn’t match that vision. DD graduated college and due to our seating, we couldn’t make her out in the crowd. They didn’t even call the nearly 1000 students in alphabetical order so we had no idea when she would reach the stage. It was disappointing to not have the moment I pictured of watching her approach the stage with my camera at the ready and then watching her walk. But it was infinitely better than 2020 when there was no MCPS HS graduation. I was overcome with emotion to just know she was getting to experience what she had been denied. I didn’t care about anybody else in that arena or the traffic or the parking. We left grandpa at home because he was concerned about a long car ride. But initially our plan was to take 2 cars so everyone fit comfortably. I think instead of focusing on what went wrong at your child’s graduation, it would be helpful to focus on the positive. Your child reached a very special milestone. You were able to witness your child walk. Grandma was able to join you on the special day. None of the venues MCPS uses are convenient. None are without traffic. That’s just something every parent should expect. As for the non-AC hallway, I think it’s reasonable to mention that to administration so they can keep it in mind as they plan next year.

You were “overcome with emotion?”

Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ? The traffic at Umbc campus was horrible both coming and going. The rain had everyone trying to depart at once, too. At arrival, grads were jumping out of jammed up cars to walk because they were threatened they would not be allowed to enter after 12:30. But at 12:30 and later, the grads still hadn’t even been allowed in. They were left outside and then eventually let in to stand in hot hallways for a very long time without water. There were annoyances as parents, which we anticipated and accepted, but it was the treatment of the grads that needs improvement. At least access to water needs to be addressed.
But the venue itself inside was spacious and fine. I’d prefer DAR but WJ is large. Is UMD too expensive?

We were wj too. My grad mentioned that there wasn't water and they had said there would be snacks since they had to leave before 21:30 am and wouldn't be back until 6pm. Of course there were no snacks. We didn't need free snacks. We would have provided them if we knew there wouldn't be any. It was the lack of honesty.

Recurring theme across the board in the largest school district in MD. How hard is it to F communicate? Parents would gladly pitch in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ? The traffic at Umbc campus was horrible both coming and going. The rain had everyone trying to depart at once, too. At arrival, grads were jumping out of jammed up cars to walk because they were threatened they would not be allowed to enter after 12:30. But at 12:30 and later, the grads still hadn’t even been allowed in. They were left outside and then eventually let in to stand in hot hallways for a very long time without water. There were annoyances as parents, which we anticipated and accepted, but it was the treatment of the grads that needs improvement. At least access to water needs to be addressed.
But the venue itself inside was spacious and fine. I’d prefer DAR but WJ is large. Is UMD too expensive?

We were wj too. My grad mentioned that there wasn't water and they had said there would be snacks since they had to leave before 21:30 am and wouldn't be back until 6pm. Of course there were no snacks. We didn't need free snacks. We would have provided them if we knew there wouldn't be any. It was the lack of honesty.

Apparently they had stuff for staff but nothing for grads, who weren’t allowed to bring anything in. Someone needs to ensure this doesn’t happen again. My DC would have been okay without the food but was feeling ill from lack of water.

Can you imagine as an adult being told that you need to go 5 hours with no water or bathroom use and that you will be standing for at least 90 minutes of it? Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking. (The bathroom access issue had turned into one of my number one complaints with MCPS. I work in a volunteer role with kids and teens and my first rule is that if you need to use the bathroom, you can use the bathroom!).

Why would you actually believe that they were told they can’t bring snacks, drink water or use the bathroom?

I’m not the PP who raised this and I think my kid was at a different school but they were definitely told that if they got out of line up to use bathroom they would not be permitted to walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ? The traffic at Umbc campus was horrible both coming and going. The rain had everyone trying to depart at once, too. At arrival, grads were jumping out of jammed up cars to walk because they were threatened they would not be allowed to enter after 12:30. But at 12:30 and later, the grads still hadn’t even been allowed in. They were left outside and then eventually let in to stand in hot hallways for a very long time without water. There were annoyances as parents, which we anticipated and accepted, but it was the treatment of the grads that needs improvement. At least access to water needs to be addressed.
But the venue itself inside was spacious and fine. I’d prefer DAR but WJ is large. Is UMD too expensive?

We were wj too. My grad mentioned that there wasn't water and they had said there would be snacks since they had to leave before 21:30 am and wouldn't be back until 6pm. Of course there were no snacks. We didn't need free snacks. We would have provided them if we knew there wouldn't be any. It was the lack of honesty.

Apparently they had stuff for staff but nothing for grads, who weren’t allowed to bring anything in. Someone needs to ensure this doesn’t happen again. My DC would have been okay without the food but was feeling ill from lack of water.

Can you imagine as an adult being told that you need to go 5 hours with no water or bathroom use and that you will be standing for at least 90 minutes of it? Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking. (The bathroom access issue had turned into one of my number one complaints with MCPS. I work in a volunteer role with kids and teens and my first rule is that if you need to use the bathroom, you can use the bathroom!).

Why would you actually believe that they were told they can’t bring snacks, drink water or use the bathroom?

I’m not the PP who raised this and I think my kid was at a different school but they were definitely told that if they got out of line up to use bathroom they would not be permitted to walk.

And no one - including parents- was allowed to bring in food or drink. Standard arena procedures likely. But parents could purchase food and drinks or use a drinking fountain. Students didn’t get any access. Why are people trying to claim our experience didn’t happen - especially when the food and drink prohibition rules are written and shared with everyone? My DD was told they’d have water provided for the grads to accommodate for this but it did not happen.

[Anonymous]

It is way too many people and MCPS does not know how to handle such big crowds. Crazy not to allow graduates to use the bathroom or to provide them with water. They need to limit tickets to 4 and keep graduation closer to home. Even DAR is better than UMBC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ? The traffic at Umbc campus was horrible both coming and going. The rain had everyone trying to depart at once, too. At arrival, grads were jumping out of jammed up cars to walk because they were threatened they would not be allowed to enter after 12:30. But at 12:30 and later, the grads still hadn’t even been allowed in. They were left outside and then eventually let in to stand in hot hallways for a very long time without water. There were annoyances as parents, which we anticipated and accepted, but it was the treatment of the grads that needs improvement. At least access to water needs to be addressed.
But the venue itself inside was spacious and fine. I’d prefer DAR but WJ is large. Is UMD too expensive?

We were wj too. My grad mentioned that there wasn't water and they had said there would be snacks since they had to leave before 21:30 am and wouldn't be back until 6pm. Of course there were no snacks. We didn't need free snacks. We would have provided them if we knew there wouldn't be any. It was the lack of honesty.

Apparently they had stuff for staff but nothing for grads, who weren’t allowed to bring anything in. Someone needs to ensure this doesn’t happen again. My DC would have been okay without the food but was feeling ill from lack of water.

Can you imagine as an adult being told that you need to go 5 hours with no water or bathroom use and that you will be standing for at least 90 minutes of it? Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking. (The bathroom access issue had turned into one of my number one complaints with MCPS. I work in a volunteer role with kids and teens and my first rule is that if you need to use the bathroom, you can use the bathroom!).

Why would you actually believe that they were told they can’t bring snacks, drink water or use the bathroom?

I’m not the PP who raised this and I think my kid was at a different school but they were definitely told that if they got out of line up to use bathroom they would not be permitted to walk.

And no one - including parents- was allowed to bring in food or drink. Standard arena procedures likely. But parents could purchase food and drinks or use a drinking fountain. Students didn’t get any access. Why are people trying to claim our experience didn’t happen - especially when the food and drink prohibition rules are written and shared with everyone? My DD was told they’d have water provided for the grads to accommodate for this but it did not happen.

Hence stuff bra or pocket with one mini/ small water bottle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WJ? The traffic at Umbc campus was horrible both coming and going. The rain had everyone trying to depart at once, too. At arrival, grads were jumping out of jammed up cars to walk because they were threatened they would not be allowed to enter after 12:30. But at 12:30 and later, the grads still hadn’t even been allowed in. They were left outside and then eventually let in to stand in hot hallways for a very long time without water. There were annoyances as parents, which we anticipated and accepted, but it was the treatment of the grads that needs improvement. At least access to water needs to be addressed.
But the venue itself inside was spacious and fine. I’d prefer DAR but WJ is large. Is UMD too expensive?

We were wj too. My grad mentioned that there wasn't water and they had said there would be snacks since they had to leave before 21:30 am and wouldn't be back until 6pm. Of course there were no snacks. We didn't need free snacks. We would have provided them if we knew there wouldn't be any. It was the lack of honesty.

Apparently they had stuff for staff but nothing for grads, who weren’t allowed to bring anything in. Someone needs to ensure this doesn’t happen again. My DC would have been okay without the food but was feeling ill from lack of water.

Can you imagine as an adult being told that you need to go 5 hours with no water or bathroom use and that you will be standing for at least 90 minutes of it? Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking. (The bathroom access issue had turned into one of my number one complaints with MCPS. I work in a volunteer role with kids and teens and my first rule is that if you need to use the bathroom, you can use the bathroom!).

Why would you actually believe that they were told they can’t bring snacks, drink water or use the bathroom?

I’m not the PP who raised this and I think my kid was at a different school but they were definitely told that if they got out of line up to use bathroom they would not be permitted to walk.

You should have read DCUM before you planned for this graduation. 🙄

From an experienced family:
Amount of time it takes is hours for pre-graduation ceremony prep-hair-gown-makeup-photos.
Factor 2-3 hours for drive to UMBC (depending on where you're coming from), traffic to get on exit ramp and off, getting student where they need to be, bathroom, parking, standing in line for snacks, finding seats.
THEN 2 hrs ceremony.
AFTER 2hrs to mingle, photos, bathroom, change clothes if needed, getting out to car, figure out where to go after leaving parking lot, finally get out of area for a celebratory meal/drinks.
THEN drive +1hr to that place.

Exhausting. 🎉

[Anonymous]

So why don’t all schools just use their football field? If Blair, the biggest HS in the county can manage, so can others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a morning slot of UMBC and the grads had to leave our house by 6:30 to get there, so it was a little exhausting. They were told they couldn't use the bathrooms between 7:30 and when it finished at noon, which I thought was ridiculous, but may not have been fully enforced (I did see 1-2 sneak out). It wasn't great and I agree that the crowd control coming out was not great, but I didn't see anyone getting body-checked. Agree it's a little bit of a bummer that there's not someplace nice to gather as we came out. The next HS was already coming in as we were leaving, so it really was crowded and no place to really gather/celebrate (small grassy area to the left of the entrance, but it was pretty crowded). File this all under "MCPS is an enormous system with HSs that are way too big so there are some issues that flow from that."

Also, do they have to let the BOE people speak? That was the worst part. No one wanted to hear her, and her speech was bad. I would say the high points for us were the orchestra, chorus and the principal's speech. The orchestra really did very well.

Ours was the board member with the short hair. Her speech was horrible and thinly vailed virtue signaling but I think she was also the one reading the names and was going way to fast and not pausing when people cheered so you couldn't hear the next name. If they had cut one of the other miserable speeches maybe they would have had time to allow a beat between the names. It was disgracefully rude to the graduates imo.

Exactly. No one cares about a Board Member's speech. And there is no need to have more than one speech in addition to the Principal's. Everyone wants to hear their graduate's name so allow for time between names for people to cheer/celebrate. Do we parents have to come up with every idea in the largest school district in MD. Sheesh 🙄

Know talking about HS graduation here but at a MS promotion ceremony, there were even more speeches: assistant principal, principal of HS majority of students were going to attend, counselor, student gov leader, and one more. Why oh why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why don’t all schools just use their football field? If Blair, the biggest HS in the county can manage, so can others.

No matter how much you might hate UMBC, it's still better than graduation during a tornado warning.

https://mocoshow.com/2024/06/07/national-weather-service-provides-update-on-tornado/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a morning slot of UMBC and the grads had to leave our house by 6:30 to get there, so it was a little exhausting. They were told they couldn't use the bathrooms between 7:30 and when it finished at noon, which I thought was ridiculous, but may not have been fully enforced (I did see 1-2 sneak out). It wasn't great and I agree that the crowd control coming out was not great, but I didn't see anyone getting body-checked. Agree it's a little bit of a bummer that there's not someplace nice to gather as we came out. The next HS was already coming in as we were leaving, so it really was crowded and no place to really gather/celebrate (small grassy area to the left of the entrance, but it was pretty crowded). File this all under "MCPS is an enormous system with HSs that are way too big so there are some issues that flow from that."

Also, do they have to let the BOE people speak? That was the worst part. No one wanted to hear her, and her speech was bad. I would say the high points for us were the orchestra, chorus and the principal's speech. The orchestra really did very well.

Ours was the board member with the short hair. Her speech was horrible and thinly vailed virtue signaling but I think she was also the one reading the names and was going way to fast and not pausing when people cheered so you couldn't hear the next name. If they had cut one of the other miserable speeches maybe they would have had time to allow a beat between the names. It was disgracefully rude to the graduates imo.

Exactly. No one cares about a Board Member's speech. And there is no need to have more than one speech in addition to the Principal's. Everyone wants to hear their graduate's name so allow for time between names for people to cheer/celebrate. Do we parents have to come up with every idea in the largest school district in MD. Sheesh 🙄

Know talking about HS graduation here but at a MS promotion ceremony, there were even more speeches: assistant principal, principal of HS majority of students were going to attend, counselor, student gov leader, and one more. Why oh why?

Ceremonies have speeches. I would expect people who have reached adulthood to know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a wj freshman so I’m curious…how is the graduation location decided each year? I know the class sizes are huge but is it ever an option to have them graduate at school and set up classrooms/auditorium for livestreams?
Or should we just plan to get a hotel near UMBC the night before? 🤣

The new principal said if they held it at wj each student could only have 4 tickets and then buy more only if others didn't use theirs. But by having it at umbc each student could have 6 tickets. Plus it's cheaper do they Dave money. Frankly not many people brought that many people so I think it was more about the money than the tickets.

4 tickets is enough. Livestream it for other people. It is only a high school graduation, not really a big deal.

It might not be a big deal for you, it wasn't a big deal for me either, but for a lot of families, it is a big deal.

That's why they allow people with Extra tickets to sell or give them to families who want More tickets. Not everyone has family in town. Sometimes one or two tickets is enough. Giving out 6 tickets encourages people to bring their 2 year Olds who don't have a clue what's going on and are a little cranky after sitting in traffic for an hour and then waiting in the hall for an hour and then sitting in their seats for 2 hours.
Plus the rest of us have to ship off to Baltimore to see the graduation.
Always catering to the .minority of people at.the expense of the majority. That's so mcps

It's literally catering to the MAJORITY of people. The ones who want the extra tickets.

We had 7 tickets, we used 2, we gave away the other 5 to people who had more family. Everyone was happy, except apparently you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why don’t all schools just use their football field? If Blair, the biggest HS in the county can manage, so can others.

Because...Mrs.Renay Johnson.