Williamson County School District is facing backlash after holding high school graduation ceremonies in heavy rain.
Online videos surfaced last week showing Centennial High School and Franklin High School graduates sitting through heavy rainstorms and receiving their diplomas in the rain.
Parents have criticized the school district’s decision to hold the graduation ceremonies in bad weather.
Victoria Burls, whose daughter graduated from Centennial High School, told WSMV that the bad weather occurred “as soon as they started speaking.”
“I was nervous someone was going to slip and fall down the bleachers,” Burls told the outlet.
She added that her daughter will be having her graduation photos redone.
Britney Garner, who also had a daughter graduate from Centennial High School, told WSMV that her daughter had “spent hours” getting ready for the graduation ceremony. After it started raining, Garner told the outlet that she went down to the football field to give her daughter an umbrella.
“My child who had put so much into this day to make it special, and was so excited, I could just not stand to sit there and see her get drowned like that,” Garner told WMV.
According to NewsChannel5, Brooklynn Broadnax, who sang the national anthem at the high school graduation, said her shoes she wore felt “like puddles” after they were filled with water.
“I was really upset because I’ve been so excited for my graduation since freshman year,” Broadnax told the outlet.
Broadnax’s godmother, Michelle Wyatt, told NewChannel5 that her concerns were about the elderly who were “put in danger because of the weather.”
“There are puddles of water they can’t see. You run the risk of people falling,” she told the outlet.
Williamson County School District Superintendent Jason Golden told Fox 17 that the school district “know[s]” that the rain made the high school graduations “challenging.”
“Each year, many of our schools choose to hold ceremonies on our football fields because students and families have shared how meaningful it is to celebrate this milestone on campus, and it allows more loved ones to attend,” Golden told the outlet.
“Based on forecasts and radar, we expected to complete Thursday night’s ceremonies at Centennial and Franklin before the next wave of rain began, but unfortunately, changing conditions brought rain during the events,” he added.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
