Grade 12 students at Bradford District High School will have to leave town to graduate this year.
A June 27 graduation is slated to take place at the Innisfil Recreational Complex, instead of the usual Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre.
Besides the challenge of setting up and taking down more than 1,200 chairs for the event, there are other limitations of the BWG facility, including it being crowded, hot, and noisy from rain hitting the rooftop during storms, according to the school’s vice principal Graham Rayner.
“Obviously we want to be back in the community, if we can,” said Rayner, who has organized graduation ceremonies for the high school for the past four years.
This year, Bradford District High School has partnered with Innisfil’s Nantyr Shores Secondary School and Barrie’s St. Peter’s Catholic High School to rent the YMCA’s gymnasium at the recreation complex for the day, splitting the cost of setup and take-down, and staggering their graduation ceremonies throughout the evening.
BWG’s students will graduate at 7 p.m.
“We were disappointed to find out it went out to Innisfil. It was unfortunate we didn’t hear about it earlier,” said Deputy Mayor James Leduc.
With planning in the works for a $75-million revisioned community centre, Leduc said it could potentially have more space for events such as graduations.
“We’re looking at our master plan for our community centre. We’re looking to build a new facility,” he said.
Currently, the best other option for such a large event is the Blue Rink in the BWG Leisure Centre, which has about 800 seats in the bleachers and space for additional chairs on the ice-rink surface.
The town is looking into the costs of putting down a floor on the ice, but “it’s very expensive pricing,” Leduc said.
“If we can service the right venue in the next year or so, we can hopefully bring (high-school graduation) back to Bradford,” he said. “We will do our best … to bring it back to our community.”
With files from Miriam King
