Sports conflicts move Silver graduation date – Silvercity Daily Press

Knowing full well that no matter their decision, some students and parents would be upset, the Silver Consolidated Schools Board of Education voted Monday night for what they said was primarily in the interest of this year’s graduates and the safety of student-athletes, moving graduation to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 19, from the original date of Thursday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m.
When May 16 was selected last fall, no one noticed that was within the dates set for playoffs and state championships for baseball, softball, and track and field by the New Mexico Activities Association, the organization that administers all interscholastic sports and activities in schools. All of those events are held in Albuquerque.
The Silver High softball team is the defending champion in Class 4A this year, and has won eight championships in a row from 2011 to 2018, winning 13 state championships overall.
Silver High’s track and field athletes will likely qualify for state as well, according to projections by Daily Press Sports Editor Dean Thompson, and both the boys’ and girls’ teams have won past championships.
The 2024 softball and baseball quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for May 16 and 17, with finals on May 18. State track is scheduled for May 17 and 18.
While some parents and students advocated for the graduation date to be changed for safety and optimal performance by student-athletes, others pleaded for the date to stay the same because family members had already booked travel plans — some of which, they said, are nonrefundable.
Silver High School Principal Claudia Smith told the board she and her administrative team had been upset and trying to create a viable plan since the schedule conflict was brought to their attention recently by a student.
“It’s an error that I don’t know how many people looked at and missed. There’s nothing I can do to correct that. That was an error. Can’t take that one back,” Smith said. “We do not want students to have to choose between graduation and a sporting event. They are all important.”
Smith’s recommendation to the board was to keep graduation on May 16 but start an hour later, giving more time for athletes and their families to return from Albuquerque in time for the ceremony.
“I had some amazing letters written by students expressing their points of view, and the changing the date, for a large number of students, would be a problem,” she said. “A lot of that has to do with the fact there’s [members of the] military coming in, we have people flying in from outside the continental United States, we have families coming in from the East Coast as well as Mexico.”
Smith said the district had looked at options for providing transportation for students from Albuquerque.
“We have a short list of students that we know are directly impacted, and we want to be able to get those kids back here. I have staff that have already volunteered to assist in this process,” she said. “We had to figure out a way that we could be fair and equitable to as many people as we could. I don’t want students hurt. Unfortunately, no matter what we do, people are going to be unhappy.”
Smith noted that the senior class had voted to have fireworks at their graduation, and the school had already spent a considerable amount of money on that. With the ceremony’s move to a Sunday afternoon, she suggested either holding onto the fireworks for another year or using them at a “senior sunset” for this year’s class.
More than a dozen students and parents spoke during the public comments session of Monday’s agenda before the board took its vote later in the meeting. The majority spoke in favor of changing the graduation date.
Softball team members Jayelyn Sanchez, Hannah Abeyta and Larissa Rueda and track athlete Alexys Salas, all seniors, told the board that seniors had been told they would have a chance to vote on whether or not to change the date, but that email never arrived, and they were told graduation would be moved back one hour. But expecting athletes and families to drive almost 12 hours in less than two days would be unfair, Sanchez said, and her class has already seen much adversity.
“Starting back to…