A Message from Bellingham, Options, Sehome and Squalicum high schools

Message sent to 12^th grade families Sept. 21

Dear seniors and families,

We have decided to tentatively schedule graduation for the class of 2024 for Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 at Civic Stadium. We will share more details as the date gets closer.

We received positive feedback from recent graduates, families and staff about their experience at Civic, and we are hoping to continue our new tradition for the class of 2024.

We have also learned through snow days and the pandemic that our school calendar and plans sometimes need to change. We ask that you hold off on finalizing your plans for graduation until the end of February or early March (e.g. buying plane tickets for grandparents) in case we need to modify dates.

Please take note of these important dates for 2024:

• Late February/early March: we plan to finalize our graduation dates and last day for seniors, if not before. Please do not make travel plans or other arrangements just yet; if the school year gets extended, then our graduation ceremonies would likely be the following week. If a day of school gets canceled after early March, graduation dates likely would not be affected to allow staff and families time to plan and out-of-town guests to make travel arrangements.
• Wednesday, June 12 is tentatively the last day for seniors with graduation rehearsals and other end-of-year events during the school day Thursday, June 13 and Friday, June 14. This could change if we have any snow days.
• Thursday, June 13 is tentatively set for our event celebrating graduates of our Community Transitions program at Depot Market Square.
• 6 p.m. Friday, June 14 is the tentative time/date for Options High school graduation ceremony at Civic.
• Saturday, June 15 is the tentative date for Squalicum (10 a.m.), Bellingham (1 p.m.) and Sehome (4 p.m.) high schools’ graduation ceremonies at Civic. Times are also tentative.
• June 17 is the week after graduation, and we ask you to please avoid making vacation plans for that week or you may miss the final days of school and/or end-of-year activities if dates change.

There is no perfect answer when it comes to school schedules, including graduation dates. We appreciate your flexibility and will send additional updates as needed.

Contact the school office if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Marty Atkins, Katie Jones, Sonia Cole and Laurel Peak
Principals of Bellingham, Options, Sehome and Squalicum high schools