Falmouth Select Board Supported Graduation Cancellation

FALMOUTH – At a recent Falmouth Select Board meeting, the school committee was commended by selectmen for its cancellation of in-person graduation after learning some students were potentially exposed to COVID-19.

“It was a heart-wrenching decision, of course, because of disappointing our seniors once again. But not a hard decision when it comes to the safety of our students and staff, families and certainly the implications for our Falmouth community,” said Superintendent of Schools Lori Duerr.

Duerr said that signs of impending cancellation came after they first received a self-report from a family at 1 o’clock the Friday before graduation about potential exposure.

The information was later backed up by social media posts showing unsafe gatherings of students and, with more self-reporting from other parents, eventually lead to the cancellation.

School committee chairwoman Kelly Welch described the situation as “the perfect storm of bad circumstance.”

Select board chairwoman Megan English Braga said that the cancellation was the correct choice, despite how difficult the decision was to make.

She commended the committee and said that the negative criticism from some within the community was a natural response, but that the board supported the school committee.

“There are folks who are going to be upset, and sometimes the response is equally upsetting for the folks who are volunteers on a lot of these committees and who have put their heart and soul into doing the work, spending a lot of time and hours for this particular event really trying to make it work,” said English Braga.

“We, as a board, wanted to recognize that we know you’ve taken a lot of heat for that, and that we really appreciate you putting the thoughtfulness into it that you have.”

About Grady Culhane

Grady Culhane is a Cape Cod native from Eastham. He studied media communications at Cape Cod Community College and joined the CapeCod.com News Center in 2019.



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