Members of a Fairfax County School Board committee appear divided on whether high schools should adopt blanket rules and regulations for their graduation ceremonies, or whether each school should retain a degree of autonomy.
The matter arose as members of the board’s governance committee met Tuesday (April 1) to evaluate proposed updates to a host of Fairfax County Public Schools policies.
Among the changes under consideration was the addition of a “philosophy statement” to the policy regulating graduation ceremonies:
Commencement activities are designed to celebrate students’ achievements, and honor their growth, hard work, and accomplishments. Commencement ceremonies are symbolic milestones and serve as a recognition and celebration of both the individual and collective progress.
Dranesville District member Robyn Lady, who chairs the committee, suggested high schools should be able to continue with what has worked for them in the past.
“Schools have different traditions,” she said.
But board members Melanie Meren of Hunter Mill and Ricardy Anderson of Mason pushed back, saying inconsistency gives rise to challenges when school personnel are tasked with enforcement.
“This is the problem with Fairfax,” Meren said. “We do a lot of things by tradition, and then it becomes a problem.”
Anderson echoed the call for consistency.
“That shouldn’t be how we are working as a school system,” she said of a school-by-school approach.
The occasionally testy exchange touched up on issues ranging from the possibility of imposing a dress code at ceremonies and the selection of outside speakers to whether decorations should be allowed on mortarboards.
Board member Rachna Sizemore-Heizer of Braddock District didn’t completely side with Meren and Anderson, but confirmed that some public concerns have cropped up.
“I have heard many of the same things around consistency,” she said.
Not ceding any ground in the discussion, Lady said individuality should not be regulated out of existence from commencement exercises.
“It’s an exciting day. If people show up with a cultural Hawaiian lei, I’m not taking it off their necks, and I’m not going to ask faculty to do that,” she said.
Meren countered that “some people do find certain cultural things offensive.”
“It ruins their day,” she said.
Acknowledging “lots of consternation” among the four board members at the meeting, Lady suggested that governance committee members pair off to review the commencement policy and other disputed revisions and try to find common ground before the next committee meeting.
“I want to think about it” before deciding which board members should be assigned to which policies, Lady said.
One of the other policies set for further review deals with school uniforms.
Existing FCPS policy “neither encourages nor discourages” an individual school from having a voluntary uniform policy. State law permits school divisions and individual schools to implement uniform policies, if desired.
Meren suggested that while a policy review was in order, it’s not a burning issue.
“I have had no one, ever, raise this to me,” she said about the possibility of uniforms.
Appropriate student attire currently is detailed in the Student Rights & Responsibilities Handbook.
Once all the revised policies are approved by the full school board, it will be up to FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid and staff to develop new or revised procedures and follow through on their provisions.
Anderson said it’s necessary for policies adopted by the full board to ensure their intent is unambiguous.
“These policies are our communication to the public and the superintendent,” she said.
