Dear Minisink Valley Class of 2021 families:

We’re writing to share a welcome update for the Class of 2021 Commencement Ceremony: We will now be holding one ceremony for all Class of 2021 students on our football field!

We promised you we’d continue to actively work with our area’s state officials to assertively lobby for a single graduation ceremony. This past weekend, we initiated an in-person meeting with state and local officials, where we had a thoughtful and frank discussion about the importance of a single graduation event for our students. They were receptive to and accepted our plan.  We’re very grateful to State Sen. Mike Martucci and County Executive Steve Neuhaus for their support of this plan.

To summarize:

• One ceremony on Friday, June 25 at 6 p.m.
• Each student will be permitted to invite two guests and we must adhere to this requirement.  Tickets will be required and must be picked up in advance.  On June 25, the campus will only be open to graduates, their two guests and the limited faculty, administrators and staff needed to run the commencement ceremony.
• There is no need to provide proof of vaccination, antigen test results or negative COVID-19 test results. However, strict adherence to social distancing rules, and any other requirements that may need to be in place, in addition to completing a COVID-19 health screening form in advance of the ceremonies, to be in compliance with NYSDOH and OCDOH mandates, will be required.
• Ceremonies will be live-streamed for family and friends to view remotely. More details will follow.

We promised you we would continue to put our best efforts into trying to make a single ceremony a reality for our students. We need everyone’s cooperation and continued understanding and grace to make this happen. While the ceremony we’ll be having is still slightly different from past traditional commencement ceremonies, we hope you join us in recognizing our collective energies must now be focused on making this single ceremony memorable and meaningful to our students. We believe this is possible, and you have our commitment that the high school and district administration will do this.

We’ll provide additional details on ticket pick-up and commencement live streaming in the coming days. We appreciate your ongoing support, patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

Brian C. Monahan
Superintendent

Kenneth Hauck
Principal