The school board intends to take final action Oct. 11 on a plan to switch high school graduation from the Lied Center to Memorial Stadium.
The Lawrence school board voted unanimously Monday to ask a committee to reconsider its plan to conduct high school graduation ceremonies at a facility with limited seating.
Administrators, parents and students on that panel will work from the perspective that Kansas University now has agreed to allow May 2000 graduates of Free State High School and Lawrence High School to attend outdoor ceremonies at 50,250-seat Memorial Stadium.
The 2,020-seat Lied Center was selected by the committee after it failed to convince KU officials to grant access to 16,300-seat Allen Fieldhouse. Moving to the Lied Center meant each graduate would be limited to five tickets for guests.
"The key issue is unlimited seating, and I think that is the direction the committee will go," said Mike Browning, co-chair of the committee and an assistant principal at LHS.
The issue came before the board because parents and students campaigned for an alternative to the Lied Center. More than 400 LHS students and about 200 Free State seniors signed petitions objecting to any venue with limited seating. About 175 people attended an organizing meeting Wednesday at LHS, and 75 people came to the service center Monday to press for change.
The board postponed final action until Oct. 11 to let the committee ponder the issue.
Not everyone was pleased with the delay.
"What we're here to do tonight is to remove the uncertainty as to where this issue stands," said John Lungstrum, who obtained a pledge from KU to permit the district to use Memorial Stadium.
Free State student Katy Belot said the board missed an opportunity to settle the issue.
"It's really an important time for all of us and there's no reason we shouldn't be able to share it with as many people we want," she said.
The board voted 4-3 against a motion by member Scott Morgan to set a policy of holding high school graduation at Memorial Stadium. Jack Davidson and Sue Morgan, no relation to Scott Morgan, also dissented.
"There is no need for further review," Scott Morgan said. "I think it's important the board set the direction and the committee fill in the question marks."
Board members Leni Salkind, Mary Loveland, Austin Turney and James Hilliard voted against Scott Morgan's motion. Several thought a vote Monday to override the committee would undermine collegiality of the district's committee structure.
"If we don't let them take the process through, we're going to have a very tough time in the future having ... people serve on committees for us," Hilliard said..
Loveland asked that the committee study the possibility of holding graduation programs during daylight hours to cut chance of rain.
-- Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is tcarpenter@ljworld.com.
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