AUSTIN, Texas —
The Texas Education Agency has announced guidelines for Class of 2020 graduation ceremonies for all Texas school districts amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
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On Tuesday, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath provided four different pathways for schools to celebrate their graduating seniors, and each district is at liberty to determine if any of these options best serve the needs and desires of their community:
- Completely virtual ceremonies that take place entirely online, with the use of videoconference or other technologies.
- Hybrid ceremonies, which consist of a compilation of videos of students being recognized in person as they celebrate graduation in small groups.
- Vehicle ceremonies, in which students and their families wait in their cars while other graduates are recognized one at time with their families alongside them.
- Outdoor in-person ceremonies, which are currently permitted for counties as follows:
- Between May 15 and May 31, an outdoor ceremony may take place in a rural county that has an attestation as described in the Governor’s Report to Open Texas that remains in effect seven days prior to the ceremony.
- An outdoor ceremony may take place in any Texas county on or after June 1.
Full details of the TEA's graduation ceremony guidance can be found on the TEA website.