VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is a new release issued by Valley City Public Schools Superintendent Josh Johnson:

“Our Senior Class of 2020 will be graduating at a special ceremony on Thursday, June 11th at Hanna Field beginning at 7:00pm. We are very excited to be able to honor this special group of 84 seniors and provide them with a very memorable and deserving ceremony. A reason why we decided to delay the graduation ceremony to June was the belief that we would be able to allow a larger group to assemble for this program. Last Friday, Governor Burgum announced new guidelines outlining increased attendance for larger gatherings and therefore we will be able to increase the number of attendees per graduate (State Guideline Increased to 75% of Seating Capacity with maximum of 500 attendees). Please know Valley City High School Principal Kristi Brandt will be sending out additional updated information for our graduation ceremony to all senior parents in the coming days.

At the end of this week, Valley City Public Schools and Activities Director Mike Schultz will be sending out our Hi-Liner Smart Restart Activity Plan for the summer of 2020. This plan will detail specific information related to the re-entry of students into activities and the re-opening of our district facilities for activity purposes. Please be looking for this information via email, social media, and local media sources at the end of this week. The beginning of our Hi-Liner Smart Restart Plan will begin on Monday, June 8th, 2020.

We are also excited to announce we began our first in-person (Face-to-Face) educational program at Valley City Public Schools since schools closed in March. The Drivers Education Program at VCHS began classes for a limited number of students following the state guidelines. We would like to extend our appreciation to City County Health and School Nurse, Renee Larson, for assisting us in the screening of students and providing masks for both the instructors and students.

While we expect much will change for schools with COVID-19 between June 1st and August 26th, we have begun the process of planning and preparing for the 2020-2021 school year. Throughout the summer, we plan to share communications with you and seek your feedback on the “drafts” of our Restart Plans for the beginning of next school year. We recognize that many individuals will have differing opinions regarding what this plan will look like, however, we all can remain united together with our focus on district goals and COVID-19 priorities.

Thank you parents, guardians, and community members for partnering with our team of committed and dedicated educators at Valley City Public Schools. We recognize the challenges of COVID-19 are still ahead of us and together we will rise above any obstacles and continue to provide a great education for all students at Valley City Public Schools in the Summer 2020 and all throughout the 2020-2021 school year.”

Let’s Go Hi-Liner,

Josh Johnson

Superintendent

Valley City Public Schools

(701) 845-0483