This Boise high school plans to violate city order with a 1,200-person graduation
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean issued an order last week that limits gatherings to 250 people, but Bishop Kelly High School is planning a graduation Saturday that could have nearly 1,200 people present.
And the city of Boise appears unlikely to do anything about it.
The Catholic high school announced Monday that it would hold an “almost traditional graduation ceremony” based on Idaho moving into Stage 4 of Gov. Brad Little’s plan to free Idaho from its coronavirus lockdown. Little’s guidelines, issued June 11, allow for gatherings of more than 50 people, with no upper limit, as long as attendees can remain socially distant.
But McLean issued a public health order, also on June 11 and effective last Saturday, June 13, imposing a stricter limit for Boise. She prohibited gatherings larger than 250 people. That means Bishop Kelly’s graduation, even with distancing measures the school has proposed, would violate the order.
McLean plans no enforcement, though she says she pointed out the limit to a Bishop Kelly representative.
“Although group gatherings of over 250 are prohibited in the city of Boise in Stage 4, the city of Boise remains focused on education first,” McLean told the Idaho Statesman by email. “We ask event organizers to please follow the state and city’s reopening guidelines and practice safe physical distancing, urge the use of face coverings and good hygiene.”
Violations of the health order are considered misdemeanors. The city, like most other local governments and the state itself, has generally declined to enforce state and local coronavirus health orders. The city opted instead to have teams of “social ambassadors” — city employees whose jobs were repurposed during COVID-19 shutdowns — go to popular public spaces to remind people to respect social distancing requirements.
Bishop Kelly has about 170 graduates in the class of 2020, spokesperson Katie Hays said in a news release. The plan is to seat them on the football field with 8 feet of separation between each person and to provide each graduate with black and gold face coverings, matching the school’s colors.
Graduates would be allowed six guests from their own households who would be seated on the stadium bleachers, with 8 feet between families. That would allow for more than 1,000 guests, or nearly 1,200 total attendees including graduates and school officials.
The school plans to put a one-way foot traffic plan in place and is encouraging guests to wear masks. Microphones will be sanitized between speakers, gloves will be worn by people distributing programs, and handshakes and hugs will not be allowed on the stage.
Hays told the Statesman that the school worked closely with Central District Health to come up with a plan, which Christine Myron, spokesperson for the department, confirmed.
“We’ve been working with them as they’ve planned this,” Myron told the Statesman on Wednesday. “They’ve put a lot of time and energy into making it all possible, and it’s not without risk, but they’re doing their best.”
Hays also told the Statesman that the school spoke with McLean on Sunday about the plans for the graduation. She said the mayor indicated that the limit was intended only for public events that the city would issue permits for.
The health order McLean signed declares otherwise: “Public and private gatherings of individuals in groups of more than 250 are prohibited.”
Asked about that, McLean said a representative from the school called and asked to share the plan for the event “because they were surprised to learn of our event cap.”
“We spoke, and I shared with them that we don’t review event plans,” McLean said by email. “I told them we do have a limit on group gathering sizes of 250 and they would have to determine where they fall.”
Despite that, Hays confirmed Wednesday morning that the graduation would go on. It is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, on Nick Ysursa Field at Bishop Kelly High.
Reporter Michael Lycklama contributed.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 2:24 PM.
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