Dear Penn Manor Students and Families,
On Friday, we announced that our prom cannot be held as scheduled and that we are moving toward the creation of an alternative commencement ceremony for Thursday, May 28, 2020. These were tremendously difficult decisions. Administrators and teachers are devastated that we cannot gather in person with our students in these traditional senior rites of passage. We also are disappointed that we cannot spend the next five weeks with all of the students in Penn Manor for their traditional end-of-year activities.
We will not schedule an event knowing that some of our seniors, as well as parents and grandparents, could be critically impacted. We do not want to create a circumstance in which even one medically fragile Penn Manor student or adult would be infected at prom or commencement. The risks are just too great for our Penn Manor community.
While some other schools in our region may postpone festivities and not make definitive decisions yet, we do not want to set new dates for events in June and July, only to disappoint seniors again if circumstances do not change. We are making meaningful plans for the near future and not speculating on what restrictions may or may not be in place during the summer.
Penn Manor is committed to celebrating our seniors in a mix of traditional as well as new ways. Adapting our traditions will take a great deal of planning and support from students, families, teachers, and administrators. The high school administration is meeting with class officers this week to plan events and will share a schedule of events later in the week. The schedule and pertinent information will be shared through email to the class and posted on the high school website as they are finalized. We will need your help in future days!
The events will look different this May, but we promise that they will be memorable and will make you “Proud to be a Comet”!
Sincerely,
Baron H. Jones