Some school officials have a little trepidation about the end of the academic year — and it has nothing to do with in-class learning. School officials only have a few weeks to plan high school proms when normally it takes months of preparation.
“An activity like prom, a 250-person event, with catered dinner — these aren’t things we pull together in three weeks’ time. They take a long time to prepare,” Catherine Hogan, a secondary V teacher at Westwood High School in Hudson, told Global News.
Quebec lawmakers, on the advice of public health officials, gave schools the green light to hold proms as of July 8.
Hogan is recommending that date be pushed to the end of August or early September, even if it means cutting the class of ’21 graduation momentum.
“I think the kids would be happy to have any celebration at all. They’ve lost out on a lot of activities that they would have had,” Hogan said.
The final decision is left to school boards for public schools. Spokespeople for the Lester B. Pearson and English Montreal school boards told Global News they hadn’t yet made a decision.
Dominique Anglade, the official Opposition leader, anticipates parents will hold their own private proms for graduates.
“Some of them might be able to do so anyway because they’re going to be able to organize themselves,” she said.
School officials are left in a holding position until a final decision is made.