VEDDERSBURG — Through a virtual meeting held Thursday, board members of Southeast Fountain Schools met to discuss several issues relating to the end of the typical school year and how they are affected by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Dan Foster, superintendent of the Southeast Fountain district, provided insight to questions on the minds of many, including graduation, item pickup, Senior Awards Night and more.
A link will be provided to parents and students to “attend” a virtual graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. May 22.
“We want to emphasize again — this even was never intended as a replacement for an in-person graduation,” Foster said. “We’ve been in contact with the Fountain-Warran County Health Department to review some potential plans ... to make sure we would be OK on doing something. We’re still going to try.”
The intention of the virtual ceremony, Foster said, is to provide something on the night of the original graduation date.
“If the state regresses on the pandemic and the restrictions get reeled back in, the virtual graduation may be the only one they get. But we’re trying to provide both.”
Senior Awards Night also will be presented virtually this year. It will be available via a provided link at
6:30 p.m. Monday.
“We will follow appropriate guidelines, but we will be able to have the Senior Top Ten Luncheon on Tuesday,” Foster said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved a virtual sixth-grade “promotion” ceremony that will be available through a link that will be sent out to parents via email. The program will also be posted on the elementary and corporate Facebook pages. On Tuesday, small groups of teachers and administrators will deliver award certificates to sixth-grade students between 5-8 p.m. Parents and students will be asked to come outside to receive the awards.
• Heard parents and students may return school-owned items, and pick up their personal belongings left at the school, on Wednesday and Thursday in a drive-through setting at the campus from 4-8 p.m. Strict procedures have been put in place to follow safety guidelines, Foster said.
• Heard that more than 13,000 meals have been delivered to students and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic, and another 2,200 have been planned.
The next public meeting for the Southeast Fountain School Corporation has been scheduled for 3 p.m. June 4. Virtual viewing is available on the Southeast Fountain YouTube page.
