This year’s seniors will get to celebrate the end of their K-12 experience with prom and graduation, but some pandemic-related precautions will linger.
Johnson County’s public school districts are planning proms later this month and graduations in the coming months after last year’s events had to be altered or canceled altogether due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The most blatant reminder of the pandemic will occur at proms, some of which will be in school parking lots and fieldhouses where students will be required to remain in friend groups to facilitate contact tracing if someone contracts the virus.
All six Johnson County school districts are requiring students to wear masks at prom, except when drinking or eating. Instead of a formal dinner, students are encouraged to eat dinner before arriving at prom, though packaged snacks and food trucks will be on site.
The county’s three largest school districts — Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin schools — will have proms at the high schools’ respective campuses.
At Whiteland Community High School, students are decorating the parking lot where the marching band usually practices to get it ready for a makeshift prom. Student council and student government are coordinating hanging string lights over the dance floor to make it a night under the stars, said Benji Betts, the high school’s principal.
“It means a lot for our kids who weren’t able to have (a prom) last year with everything being shut down. Our school looked at all the possibilities and it just wasn’t a possibility last year,” Betts said. “The kids have been great helping us come up with a plan that’s safe for everybody.”
Students at Edinburgh, Greenwood and Indian Creek schools are having their proms off-site. At Greenwood Community High School, students will be able to have a more traditional prom experience at The Sycamore at Mallow Run in Bargersville. Students will still be required to wear masks, and students will only be able to be on the dance floor with their designated groups, as is the case with other high schools’ proms, said Todd Garrison, principal.
“What we’re considering doing is glow sticks so we keep the number low in terms of the number of students permitted on the dance floor at a time,” Garrison said. “You have to be with the color of your group.”
Schools’ policies vary when it comes to students inviting outside guests to prom. Outside guests are prohibited at Edinburgh, Franklin and Whiteland high schools, and at Indian Creek High School, the guest policy will depend on how many students are interested in attending. The fewer students attend, the more likely some students will be able to bring an outside date.
Center Grove High School is limiting guests to graduates 21 years old or younger, and Greenwood Community High School will allow guests because it will be under capacity, school officials said.
Graduation will look very similar to the way it did last year. Barring inclement weather that would push ceremonies indoors and further limit the number of guests, students at Center Grove, Franklin, Greenwood and Whiteland high schools will graduate on the respective schools’ football fields, as was the case last year. All graduations will take place between late May and early June.
At Edinburgh and Indian Creek high schools, graduation will take place in the schools’ gymnasiums. Masks will be required of all guests.
Although plans may change if there is another surge of COVID-19 cases in Johnson County, schools are finalizing the tentative number of guests allowed per student at graduations.
Franklin Community High School will look to double last year’s allotment, to four guests per student from two. As of now, Greenwood Community High School will also allow four tickets per graduating senior, as will Edinburgh Community High School. The principals at Center Grove, Indian Creek and Whiteland high schools said they would make a determination closer to the end of the school year.
Although much of the 2020-21 school year was spent in a hybrid format, being able to close out the year on a somewhat normal note is great for student morale, said Steve Ahaus, Franklin Community High School principal.
“The kids have been excited,” Ahaus said. “Our seniors (last year) had their things abruptly taken away. This year’s seniors had that taken away and almost everything this year. Wipe out part of junior year and almost all of senior year, and they’ve had it worse in some ways. Anything we can put together to help them enjoy the last couple months of the school year is great.”
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Here is a look at when proms and graduations are for each school:
Proms
Franklin: 7 p.m. Friday, Franklin Community High School
Greenwood: 7:30 p.m. Friday, The Sycamore at Mallow Run
Center Grove: 7 p.m. May 1, Center Grove High School
Edinburgh: 8 p.m. May 1, Sterling Cabaret
Indian Creek: 7 p.m. May 8, The Barn at Timber Ridge
Whiteland: 7 p.m. May 8, Whiteland Community High School
Graduations
Greenwood: 7 p.m. May 28
Franklin: 10 a.m. May 29
Clark-Pleasant: 10 a.m. June 5
Indian Creek: 10 a.m. June 5
Edinburgh: 2 p.m. June 5
Center Grove: 7 p.m. June 5
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