A minor change in the Gillett School District calendar led to a more general discussion of graduation dates during the school board’s Feb. 20 regular monthly meeting.
Superintendent Nathan Hanson told the board that the 2025-26 calendar they approved in January contained an error — the week he originally listed for spring break did not overlap with Good Friday, so the revised calendar makes that adjustment.
While they were discussing the calendar, board member Jamie Heroux suggested the district consider whether the current practice of holding graduation on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is best.
Over the years, teachers have said underclassmen seem to be less engaged during the approximately two weeks of class time after the seniors have left the building, Heroux said. He suggested either a study of ways to get those remaining students more engaged or changing the graduation date.
“We went back to having graduation as the last Sunday before the last day of school, which it was for two years, and we went back to Memorial Day weekend because of the thought that it was always Memorial Day weekend, and we’ve been having this discussion ever since,” he said.
He challenged administrators to come back in May with some options for the future.
Hanson said he reviewed some old parent surveys and and found that opinions about the graduation date vary year to year.
Secondary school principal Shawn Limberg said graduation was held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 18 times in the last 26 years. Seven were the weekend after Memorial Day, and in 2020 a scaled-back ceremony was held in August due to COVID-related restrictions.
“Actually, in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, it looks like graduation was on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend,” Limberg said.
Hanson said several area districts have gone to midweek a graduation ceremony.
“Ideologically, from my standpoint, the longer we have kids here, the more we can work with them,” Hanson said. “It’s just whether the community wants that or not.”
Board member Kimberly Schaal suggested that any study include a look at surrounding communities with a review of the impact on families who have students in multiple districts. Gillett’s ceremony has been held at 1:30 p.m. Memorial Day Sunday and Oconto Falls starts at 2 p.m., for example.
“For some of our families, it’s kind of hard to get to graduation in Gillett and Oconto Falls if you have relatives in both districts,” Schaal said. “It’s just something I’ve heard.”
Heroux said the sole purpose is to educate the students of the community, noting that every year districts seem to be moving to fewer student-contact days.
“Having two weeks where maybe some of our sophomores and juniors aren’t as engaged because the seniors have left already, I think that becomes more of an impact than it may have in years past,” Heroux said. “We should be always considering how are we making sure that we’re educating the students that are successful after they leave here, first.”
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