Blair students and parents may sweat over graduation venue

At Blair High School in Silver Spring, parents and staff are still working to finalize the location for the Class of 2010 graduation ceremony.   In a recent Blair PTSA newsletter, Blair PTSA co-president Pete Lafen questions the equity of allocating the same amount of money to each school for graduation even though class sizes vary greatly amongst schools.

Mr. Lafen writes:

It was pointed out that while MCPS pays for very little on a per-school basis, graduation is funded that way on the assumption that DAR works for all schools. Blair parents disagree. But by allocating $5,000 to each school for graduation, Poolesville gets $27 per graduating senior, and we get a little over $8.

At this point, it appears that Blair might use Cole Field House at the University of Maryland College Park campus for their graduation.  Cole Field House has no air-conditioning and in the heat and humidity of early June will almost certainly not be as comfortable as DAR Constitution Hall, where most MCPS high schools hold their commencement ceremonies.  Blair will need to raise $15,000 to fill the gap between what MCPS allocates for graduation and the cost of renting Cole Field House.

Graduation ceremonies last year for several of the largest MCPS schools, including Blair, were held at Comcast Center, but with no school willing to share the rental cost this year, Comcast Center is not within budget for this year's graduation.