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MILL HALL -- In a school year where little has been normal, the Keystone Central School District will be trying to make things as normal as possible for the graduating Class of 2021.
At Thursday night's school board voting session, KCSD superintendent Jacquelyn Martin announced that both Bucktail High School and Central Mountain High School will have in-person graduation ceremonies to celebrate the Class of 2021.
"You'll hear it here first -- graduation dates have been set for both high schools," Martin excitedly announced.
Friday, June 4 is the tentative date for graduation at Bucktail High School. Saturday, June 5 is the tentative date for graduation at Central Mountain High School.
"We do plan to have in-person ceremonies, likely with ticketing if we're required to do so or limit seating," Martin said.
The district assigned Central Mountain High School with a Saturday graduation date for numerous reasons, Martin said.
"We did select Saturday for Central Mountain because of the size of the graduation and the number of spectators. We may have to hold multiple events and we felt that having a weekend day would give us a little more flexibility if we had to be agile with that," Martin said.
According to Martin, the district will be pushing out information to students, parents and families "soon."
Keystone Central is the first school district in The Express' coverage area to announce graduation plans. Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte and Jersey Shore have yet to announce their graduation plans.
In other business Thursday, the board unanimously approved the renovation project at Bucktail High School. However, the vote did not take place without discussion.
Board member Elisabeth Lynch questioned the construction of a pavillion at the high school.
"I cannot support the pavillion that's going over the main entrance," Lynch said. "I believe it's way too tall, it's not tied into the building, it's open on both ends and maybe it's too big. I think maybe we can bring the cost down. So, I cannot support that."
Lynch did say that she is in support of the renovation.
"I really support re-building the Renovo campus 120 percent. But I cannot, in good conscience, vote yes on something that I do not understand," Lynch said.
Board president Tracy Smith clarified some things for Lynch.
"Tonight's vote is just to approve for the designer to begin specking out the prices, specking out materials and getting the design process going," Smith said. "At our next facilities meeting … questions can be asked there and more information can be gathered," Smith said.
Martin said that the time frame is "centered around doing this construction while we're not actively in school."
"We'd like to do it over the summer months so it's not interrupting instruction," Martin said.
The Keystone Central School Board will meet for a work session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 1. That meeting will be held via Zoom and will be accessible through the district's website.
KCSD FREE Meal Distribution Information follows:
Seven days of bundled breakfasts and lunches will be available for all children ages 1 -- 18 in the KCSD community on Monday, March 15 and Thursday, March 18, at Robb Elementary School main entrance from 5-6 p.m.; Central Mountain High School bus loop entrance in parking lot B from 5-6 p.m. and Bucktail High School main entrance from 5-6 p.m.