SALAMANCA — As the school year winds down, area districts are preparing for their annual commencement ceremonies that will once again be affected by COVID-19 safety regulations.

In Salamanca, high school principal Chris Siebert said they plan to have an outdoor ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park on Friday night, June 25 with a rain date sometime that weekend, weather depending.

Siebert said a stage would be mounted on the multipurpose field for the graduates with attendees sitting socially distant in the bleachers. He said state regulations would allow up to 500 attendees by graduation day and COVID screenings would be performed before the ceremony.

“Hopefully things don’t change too much between now and then, but we’ll be flexible and roll with it,” he added.

In 2020, the district held two outdoor ceremonies at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum two hours apart with half of the graduating class attending each with only district officials and speakers attending both. Safety guidelines including social distancing, limited attendance and wearing masks were implemented.

Last year the ceremonies were live streamed online. In addition to the in-person ceremony this year, Siebert said the district hopes to record and livestream the ceremony with new cameras, saying the technology isn’t as high quality as they’d like.

Siebert said the graduating class has had a difficult 15 months and it will be nice to celebrate their 13-year accomplishments in person. He said a commencement ceremony is not only special for the students but the staff and administration as well.

“I feel it’s very important to see the kids in person and give them that final ‘Good job and congratulations’ before sending them on their way,” he added.

(Contact managing editor Kellen Quigley at kquigleysp@gmail.com)