Tonight we’re getting answers about the limit on how many guests can come to graduation at Abbeville High School.
In just ten days seniors of Abbeville High School will walk across the stage here and receive their diplomas.
But after some issues last year with security, the principal decided to make some changes to how many tickets each graduate receives for family and friends to attend.
One student took to Facebook with those concerns saying “Worked hard 4 years of high school trying to make the best grade I could to get top of my class. Now graduation size limited and all my family and friends can’t even come. Crazy.”
Each graduate will get 6 reserved tickets, as per usual.
If the graduation goes on outside, as planned, then students will also get 4 additional general admission tickets.
If they’re forced to move to the indoor gym because of weather, then it will only be the 6 reserved seats like previous years.
“The reserved seats are in the big cement portion of the stadium and then there’s some big bleachers on the side and that’s where the general admission will be,” explained Principal Theriot. “We’re not going to let anyone without a ticket come in. So if you were coming in general admission last year, you didn’t need a ticket at all so there was no restriction. We just can’t control the crowd.”
Principal Lyndelle Theriot said overcrowding is the main concern. Last year, there were even two fights between non-students on the field.
“There was a lot more people, a lot more standing, there weren’t enough seats for everyone. So there was more noise and those who were sitting in the bleacher seats could not hear because of the noise,” she said.
Below is the letter parents and students received about the changes.
This year she says she’s making changes for security, even hiring 10 officers instead of 8.
“We need to know that everyone in that stadium is there for graduation and not for some other purpose. And we want our ceremony to be something that these kids will remember, their parents will remember. They’ll remember the ceremony and not all the other commotion that went on,” said Theriot.
Graduation is set for May 17th. And Principal Theriot says they are also planning to live stream the graduation on Facebook for those who can’t attend.
