Batavia graduation ceremony might go off-site in 2013

Batavia High School may join the ranks of Kane County high schools and conduct graduation ceremonies off-site.

Principal Lisa Hichens told the school board Tuesday she and the secretary who plans the ceremony have been investigating parents' interest and looking into potential locations.

Parents who answered a survey were about evenly split, Hichens said. The 250 respondents had students in all high school grades, not just seniors.

Eighty percent of the Class of 2013 students overwhelmingly favored the idea of moving, she said.

The issue is room in Batavia's contest gym, where the ceremony is conducted. Students are limited to five tickets apiece, and Hichens said that close to graduation, she and her secretary receive call after call from parents seeking more tickets.

This year, BATV public access television set up a live telecast of the ceremony and showed it by closed circuit to about 200 people in the auditorium of the new Batavia Fine Arts Center, she said. Some of the people there were guests who would otherwise have difficulty getting up and down the bleachers in the gymnasium, Hichens said.

BATV staff has been consulted about continuing to provide live coverage of graduation even if it moves off-site. The TV station staff has already determined that it can broadcast at the Convocation Center at Northern Illinois University. West Aurora and Kaneland high schools have held ceremonies there for several years. St. Charles East and North high schools use the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.