McKeesport Area makes plans for prom, graduation

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com

McKeesport Area School District leaders spoke about plans for year-end traditions such as graduation and prom during Wednesday’s school board meeting.
“Spring has sprung. Hopefully there’s no more snow. Hopefully we can get through the rest of this (year),” board President Joe Lopretto said. “… It is here and you know, we have our prom already scheduled, let’s hope graduation can go on and let’s just get rid of this corona.”
Celebrating the Class of 2021
“At this point, our graduation is scheduled to be on time (and) to be outside in our stadium,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman said.
Graduation is slated for June 2, according to the district’s online calendar.
“I will tell you that we don’t have a rain make-up day, so if we do have some rain on graduation day, I recommend you try to stay dry because it’s not going to be feasible to move it indoors considering the mitigation strategies,” Holtzman said.
“We are excited to try something a little different this year, possibly repositioning the stage in the stadium on the turf and allowing both sides to be able to view their children receiving their diplomas,” Holtzman said.
Prom
The board on Wednesday took action to approve a request to use $4,000 to pay for costs associated with supplying security and chaperones for the 2021 prom.
The event is slated for May 27 in downtown Pittsburgh.
“Many of our students have already been notified that the prom, at this current time, is available to them,” Holtzman said. “As it historically has been, the Omni (William Penn Hotel) is the venue, as it always has been for many years. We’re very excited that they are able to accommodate.
“Unfortunately the virus is continuing to tick up slowly, so we are keeping an eye on those particular positive cases. We are hopeful that things will steady and we’ll continue to be able to move forward with the prom.”
According to MASD’s online “COVID-19 Tracker,” there have been 143 cases of COVID-19 within the district since Sept. 2, with 42 of those at the high school.
The tracker does not give specific information about when each case was reported to the district.
MASD announced Tuesday that Founders’ Hall Middle School would operate on a virtual learning day Wednesday due to an increased number of confirmed COVID cases in the building. The virtual day only applied for Founders’ Hall students.

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