Hillsborough County Public Schools announced it will hold virtual ceremonies due to coronavirus concerns.
The school district had originally planned to celebrate the Class of 2020 by having commencement ceremonies at the Florida State Fairgrounds but announced the ceremonies will instead go virtual.
“My heart goes out to the Class of 2020. I recognize that each of our graduates worked tremendously hard during their Senior year and this is not the outcome we wanted for them. It has always been our goal to give our seniors a traditional graduation ceremony, where friends and family can share in their big moment. We hoped by July that cases would be trending downward, but that is not the case. Although we have made this difficult decision to move the ceremonies online, nothing changes the fact that students will still have the opportunity to commemorate this occasion with their families,” said Superintendent Addison Davis.
Hillsborough County Public Schools is contracting with an outside vendor to create virtual graduation videos that will be shared with families. Each high school will also celebrate their graduates with drive-thru diploma ceremonies where seniors can don their cap and gown and take the traditional graduation photo with their principal, employing distancing measures.
Story developing, refresh for updates. Stay with ABC Action News for the latest.
