Lehighton Area High School seniors now know when they'll don their cap and gown.

The district's school board unanimously voted Monday night to keep graduation set for its originally planned date of Friday, June 9.For the second straight year, graduation will be held in Lehighton's multipurpose stadium, unless rain forces the ceremony indoors to the auditorium.Speculation about the graduation ramped up following winter storm Stella and the three school days lost due to poor road conditions.Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said Monday that following the storm, the last day of school is currently set for June 14."The other option was to move graduation to June 13," said High School Principal Craig Reichl. "But there are a number of things to consider. We have class members from 50 years ago come to graduation every year and to change the date would affect their plans."Lehighton's all-night party also would have felt the trickle-down effect of changing the graduation date.While it's not a district-sponsored event, Reichl said a lot of planning goes into it and it helps to keep students safe after graduation."It's also easier to get chaperones on a Friday night going into a Saturday as opposed to a Tuesday going into a Wednesday," Reichl said.About the only drawback district officials could think of is a possible small loss of state subsidy because seniors would be graduating five days before the final day of school.Should it rain on June 9, district staff will make a decision on whether to move the ceremony inside.Before last year's graduation in the stadium, ceremonies were held in the high school gymnasium.Moving the rain location to the auditorium would keep the district from having to set up two sites."We can fit around 1,100 people in the auditorium," Lehighton building and grounds director Joe Hauser said.On a related note, Cleaver said the state is allowing districts to satisfy its 180-day requirement by meeting a minimum number of hours due to winter storm Stella.Districts must have at least 900 hours of instruction at the elementary level, and 990 hours at the secondary level.Cleaver said Lehighton will end with 1,070 hours for the elementary schools, 1,144 hours at the middle school and 1,123 hours at the high school.