Parents and athletes from Cooper High School addressed the Boone County Board of Education after they discovered the senior graduation date conflicts with the state track meet.
Cooper and Ryle High School seniors are scheduled to graduate on Saturday, June 1. The problem? That is the same day that The Kentucky High School Athletic Association, also known as KHSAA, scheduled the state track and field meet in Lexington.
Though students won’t find out if they qualified for the state meet until after regionals take place in May, parents said the same conflict in scheduling occurred last year, and KHSAA sets their dates a year in advance.
“The same thing happened last year where Cooper had seniors going to the state track meet who had to decide whether to walk with their class and celebrate a milestone of graduation or to be a team player and participate at the state track meet,” said Tammy Henry, the parent of a Cooper High School Track and Field team member.
She said that if an athlete missed the track meet, it would jeopardize the whole team because relay teams rely on four members. Henry also said that recruiters come to the state track meet, which could cost the students a college scholarship if they missed it.
“This may not seem like a big deal, but we push education and to be a student and a scholar,” Henry said. “They should be able to choose to walk and graduate with their class. We also want to teach them the values of being a team player and supportive athlete, and they have worked really hard not just during the season but year-round to reach the state level.”
Another parent of a Cooper Track and Field Team member, Tammy Winiger, asked the board to consider moving their graduation to Sunday, June 2.
“They worked years and years, days and days of practice, days and days of school, and to get to their graduation and to also get to the state track meet and to make them have to choose is just agonizing,” Winiger said.
Boone County Schools Superintendent Matthew Turner said that reserving a venue for their high school graduation starts a year ahead of time, as many districts in the region use NKU’s Truist Arena.
“Unfortunately, the date of senior year activities, including graduation, may conflict with post-season athletic events,” Turner told LINK nky. “These are the constraints school districts face from year to year. Considering the potential for snow days, we try to set graduation dates and reserve the venue as close to the end of the school year as possible.”
Two Cooper Track and Field Team members also addressed the scheduling issue to the school board.
Senior Raymond Brandeberry said he felt like it was unfair to make them have to choose which event to attend.
“I feel like I’ve spent my entire high school career going through and dedicating myself to the sport, and it feels like it shouldn’t be made a choice to miss the one culminating event of graduating,” Brandeberry said. “Both are very important milestones, very important significant things to look back on.”
Senior Malachi Beesley said he wasn’t even sure if he would qualify for the state meet but has spent so long dedicated to the sport he would at least like to try.
“I realized how it affects my family and how all of my family wanted to come out to my graduation,” Beesley said. “And I realized how that might affect other families—everyone on the track and field team might qualify for state at Ryle, and anyone who might qualify for the track and field state meet at Cooper. I just wanted to express how important it is that the date might be moved.”
Another mother of a senior athlete at Cooper High School, Renee Prevatte, said she was disappointed in the district for holding graduation on the same day as the meet for the second year.
“I understand the complications with scheduling venues and realize that our kids may have to make a difficult decision, but I ask that leadership make every effort to reschedule the graduation,” Prevatte said. “This 2024 class missed their eighth-grade graduation due to COVID-19 and should not have to miss either of these milestone high school events.”
Prevatte said if graduation can’t be rescheduled, she would like communications sent to parents and students acknowledging and apologizing for the situation.
