By: Karli Wallace and Kimi Danaei
Executive Theme editor
Theme editor
End of the school year events and traditions for Costa upperclassmen are facing being either canceled or postponed due to a bulletin from Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Mike Matthews released on March 23rd stating that students will not return until May 5th due to the spread of COVID-19, or more commonly known as the coronavirus.
The bulletin from Matthews and MBUSD comes from a precedented announcement made by the Los Angeles County Office of Education recommending that public schools within the county, regardless as to whether they are part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, stay closed until the recommended date. Students were originally scheduled to return to school on April 14th but were ultimately pushed back due to a spike in local COVID-19 cases within the South Bay. (Newsom info here too)
“As long as cases are increasing, we are going to have to keep doing social distancing just to try and keep more people from getting the virus,” Vice Principal Dr. Deborah Hoffreiter said. “I’ve never been in a situation like this before, but I’d say when the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] starts telling us the cases are going down, that’s when we’ll start talking about coming back.”
The planning of this year’s Prom by Costa’s Associated Student Body and Activities and ASB Director Lisa Claypoole has continued to move forward through online communication from Claypoole and Zoom conferences on the assumption that school will resume on May 5th. It is set to be hosted at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley on June 6th, a venue that Claypoole has been on the waitlist for over two years. According to Claypoole, the planning of this year’s Prom has been different from past years because ASB has not used an event planner; the amenities that the venue offers, such as food caterers and decor, must be used by whoever is renting the venue. Because of this, ticket prices will potentially be lower from last year’s which exceeded $100 for singles, Claypoole said.
“Senior Prom is a significant milestone for seniors that act as a symbolic marker of growing up and looking forward to moving on,” senior Stephan Oliveras said. “This is an event that we look forward to for years and it’s disappointing to consider that we might not get to experience those events if we can’t go back to school in May.”
However, according to Claypoole, if the rest of Costa’s 2019- 2020 school year is canceled, she and ASB are still committed to planning and putting on a Prom if the Costa Administration and MBUSD would allow her to have it outside the window of the school year. If students do not go back on May 5th or before the proposed June 6th date, it would no longer be held at the Ronald Reagan Library, as it would be booked through the summer, Claypoole said. Prom would be held at an available venue closer to the South Bay instead and may be limited to being held as a Senior Prom. According to Claypoole, juniors may attend if they are the guests of seniors but is hopeful that the late Prom date will protect it from being subject to cancellation or postponement.
“I think we need to plan and implement programs between now and the end of the school year that, in some way, shape or form, save the end of these kids’ senior year, and save their last high school memories,” Claypoole said. “Juniors might be upset, but the good news is that when they’re seniors, they won’t be facing the same problem. Having the option of going to a Prom, and giving seniors that choice, is ultimately better than nothing.”
The process of planning for Graduation usually begins at the start of March with a meeting for faculty members who help organize it. Hoffreiter has been in charge of managing this event for 5 years, along with being the Vice Principal for the Class of 2020. She’s also responsible for planning the All Awards Assembly, creating a seating map of graduation, and coordinating with security, the Manhattan Beach Police Department and the Fire Department. Other members include Costa’s Maintenance and Operations Manager, Jeff Mullikin who is responsible for setting up the chairs, stage, and signs, Costa’s Coordinator of Theater Ops and Executive Director of Costa’s Drama and Tech Department Cary Jordal, and campus security and varsity football coach Ray Lee who coordinates with the Police and Fire Departments. Alongside these members, the PTSA runs the live stream of the ceremony and Costa’s office secretaries assemble and print the program, tickets and name cards for students and families. Then in April, auditions for speeches for Senior Recognition Night and Graduation are held.
“[Graduation], just like any other huge event is a challenge but we have [gone through the process of planning this event] often enough that we are pretty good at it at this point,” Hoffrieter said. “ [I wanted to take a large role in graduation because] it’s the celebration of what students have done for 13 years of their 18 years of life, which is the biggest thing that has happened to students thus far in their lifetime, making it so special.”
According to Hoffreiter, the biggest challenge of managing Graduation is making sure everything is coordinated and that every contingency plan is thought of, in order to avoid any conflicts on the day of the event. As of now, seniors will still have a graduation ceremony, but when the ceremony occurs is reliant on when it is safe to hold it. According to Hoffreiter, Grad Night is facing cancellation because the venue where it would be held is being closed from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t know if Grad Night will take place because I don’t know about getting the venue,” Hoffreiter said. “The PTSA, who is coordinating that, might be able to get the venue but that’s going to begin as soon as we know we are back. Once we do, we’ll start hustling to finish planning the events.”
In addition to the postponement of the senior’s graduation ceremony, potential cancellation of Grad Night and Prom, many other end of the school year milestones and traditions are facing similar changes. These traditions include that of Commitment Day on May 1st, the distribution of yearbooks, spring sport seasons and senior traditions like Senior Prank Day.
“A lot of seniors at Costa have spent the entirety of their high school experiences working hard, raking up challenging courses, and coping with the ups and downs of schooling to arrive at the moment we walk across that stage, shaking hands with the principal and superintendent, and walking off the stage holding a diploma,” senior Hailey Stazkow said. “We have spent our lives hearing about senior proms, senior pranks, and our senior sports seasons. To have that potentially ripped from us is heartbreaking, and to have it out of our control is even harder.”
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