Palmerton Area School District will keep June 3 as the last day for students on the 2019-20 school calendar, its interim superintendent said during a meeting Tuesday night.

Dr. Alan Lonoconus, however, said options for the Class of 2020’s commencement ceremony are still up in the air. Graduation had been scheduled for June 15 at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe.

“We had originally scheduled graduation for June 15 so that if things would possibly open up, we could still go to Penn’s Peak,” Lonoconus said. “If things stay bad, there are several different options. You can do some sort of online graduation. Some districts are looking at drive-ins. If some of the social distancing is relaxed, having it at the stadium becomes a possibility with the students being there, but no friends or family in attendance.”

Moving graduation to a later date in July or August is yet another option, Lonoconus said, but that could eliminate some graduates who have already left for college, have employment or other commitments.

“No matter what we do, I don’t think we’ll be able to make everyone happy,” Lonoconus said. “Some districts have drawn a line in the sand, but we’ve tried to keep our options open.”

Students will advance

Palmerton voted Tuesday night by an 8-1 count to suspend district policies dealing with retention and promotion of students through June 30.

Lonoconus said the action came at the advice of the state Department of Education.

“This basically allows us to not follow our own policies as far as allowing our students to advance grades and graduate,” he told the board. “PDE is telling us, the student must move on and we have to find a way to make that work at all grade levels.”

Many Palmerton administrators said Tuesday say they are getting over 90 percent participation in online learning for their respective schools.

Director Audrey Larvey asked if that directive includes students who have yet to participate in any of the online learning activities and who had been failing during the first three marking periods when students were in the traditional school setting.

PDE spokesman Eric Levis said the question is addressed on the department’s website under frequently asked questions.

“Districts should,” PDE states, “provide support for students who are failing a course as of March 13, 2020, and provide them the opportunity, to the extent feasible, to demonstrate learning in the subject matter of the course and receive credit for the course.”

“We’re being told we have to find a pathway to move students up,” Lonoconus answered. “We would have to deal with that on an individual basis to get that student back on track.”

Director Brandon Mazepa cast the lone vote against suspending the policies.