Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 19:08     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was this a change that was ever discussed? The email that just came through was the very first I hear anything of this. Very disappointing.


Totally disappointed in this decision. Why the hell would we drive to Baltimore! We aren’t from there!


It's one day. Have you ever driven to BWI? It's not that far.


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.


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.


It's one day of your life WHEN YOUR KID IS GRADUATING. Make some effort people.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 19:07     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was this a change that was ever discussed? The email that just came through was the very first I hear anything of this. Very disappointing.


Totally disappointed in this decision. Why the hell would we drive to Baltimore! We aren’t from there!


It's one day. Have you ever driven to BWI? It's not that far.


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.


5am, and out at 6? You're fast.Traffic.Walking from parking lot to doors. Seating and maybe going to bathroom time.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 17:38     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was this a change that was ever discussed? The email that just came through was the very first I hear anything of this. Very disappointing.


Totally disappointed in this decision. Why the hell would we drive to Baltimore! We aren’t from there!


It's one day. Have you ever driven to BWI? It's not that far.


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.


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
Post 10/22/2025 15:50     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was this a change that was ever discussed? The email that just came through was the very first I hear anything of this. Very disappointing.


Totally disappointed in this decision. Why the hell would we drive to Baltimore! We aren’t from there!


It's one day. Have you ever driven to BWI? It's not that far.


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.


+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
Post 10/22/2025 15:48     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
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
Post 10/22/2025 15:25     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We had one graduation on the field at Sherwood and another at UMBC.

UMBC was easy: plenty of parking, and plenty of space. The acoustics weren’t great, but it was fine. We had the ceremony in the morning and then had lunch in Baltimore.

The Sherwood graduation was brutally hot (and someone had a serious medical episode due to the heat).

FWIW, I have friends and family in other states where graduation on the field is the norm. In hot areas, they do the ceremony after dusk and shoot off fireworks afterwards.


Do those areas have 25 HS with class sizes 500+?



Yes. In fact, one school is massive.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 15:24     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was this a change that was ever discussed? The email that just came through was the very first I hear anything of this. Very disappointing.


Totally disappointed in this decision. Why the hell would we drive to Baltimore! We aren’t from there!


It's one day. Have you ever driven to BWI? It's not that far.


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
Post 10/22/2025 15:00     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:Who cares about high school graduation ceremony. Y'all have too much time on your hands. It's a participation trophy


+1 Too much time on our hands to worry about where our kids graduate? You sound dim.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 14:49     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Who cares about high school graduation ceremony. Y'all have too much time on your hands. It's a participation trophy
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:18     Subject: Re:UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote: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.


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
Post 10/22/2025 13:08     Subject: Re:UMBC for graduation?????
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
Post 10/22/2025 12:58     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-high-school-graduation-move-baltimore-damascus-umbc-2026-parents-controversy-education-reaction-tradition-ceremony-student-safety-policy-district-decisions-seniors-plans

These parents are a bunch of whining babies. I'm going to be outside protesting their rebel graduation party.

"If for some reason Montgomery County does not agree to allow us to have it on the football field, we are planning to rent the football field the night before, hold our own graduation there, and allow the kids that want to graduate on the field to have the opportunity to," said Gallagher

Lack of notice? It's October 2025. Make some F-ing plans now. You have time.

Worried about kids driving? Oh please chatgpt made that up for you. They can ride with their parents!

Suck it up!!



If they want to coordinate the logistics and cost let them go right ahead. As long as it doesn’t cost anyone else extra.


+1 Central Office is just mad because the Damascus parents are showing that it was illogical to have the UMBC contract for every high school in the county when some high schools had a tradition of having their graduations on campus, which is far cheaper, and more convenient for all involved.


How much does it cost to rent the chairs, stage, and other equipment for the graduation ceremony, not to mention the labor in setting up and taking down?


Damascus parents are willing to pay privately for what was previously covered through their tax dollars rather than waste time and energy driving to Baltimore rather than having their graduation ceremony at their home school which has meaning for the school community.

So they get nothing from MCPS and pay on their own to avoid the Central Office bad decision.


Schools usually cost share graduation. I’d donate.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 12:57     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


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.


They are just shifting the costs. They aren’t going to bus that many people.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 12:42     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
Anonymous wrote: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.


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
Post 10/22/2025 12:37     Subject: UMBC for graduation?????
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.