According to emails sent to Eagle Valley Middle School parents and confirmed by the district, Eagle Valley Middle School has decided they will not be hosting a promotion ceremony for their 8th graders for the first time in over forty years.
Instead, they’ve opted for a celebration which includes a walk through the hallways being cheered on by younger students, teachers, and their family members. The decision was made due to limitations on attendees for the formal ceremonies, a desire to keep students focused on their academics longer, and the fact that “graduation should be the goal” as opposed to promotion.
Some parents are upset by the announcement, stating neither they nor their students were surveyed about the change beforehand or given a chance to have their voices heard. They argue that it’s unfair to students, as they will not be allowed to continue a tradition that has spanned nearly half a century, and one that is still being held as usual at Carson Middle School.
The Event
According to the email sent to parents, the plan is to still hold the Awards Assembly as they have in previous years, which will take place Tuesday June 3 at 9:30 a.m., to which parents are invited, and students will be recognized for perfect attendance, the principal’s list, honor roll, and being most improved among others.
While in previous years, the Eagle Valley promotion ceremony was held in the gymnasium at the middle school and, prior to the new gym being built in 2012, at Carson High School, Principal Lee Conley said the event will be nixed this year in part due to space constraints.
Last year, around 200 8th graders attended the promotion ceremony at Eagle Valley.
This year, the school is pivoting to an “8th Grade Commitment to Graduate Celebration.”
Carson Middle School will still be holding their promotion ceremony as usual.
The new celebration will take place Wednesday, June 4 at 10:30 a.m., during which 8th graders will walk through the building in a “celebratory parade,” and will be cheered on by staff and younger students.
Parents are also invited to join in by lining the hallways, and extending the celebration out to the lawn.
Classes will be over when the parade begins, and students will be released following the celebration. Because of this, typical sign-in requirements at the front office for visitors will not be required.
“Everyone is welcome to attend, as there is no need to limit the number of partisans,” Conley wrote. “Families and friends will cheer for our 8th graders and meet them on the front lawn after the procession.”
The event will feature music, decorations, and photo opportunities to “honor and celebrate their departure,” he said.
Parents are allowed to begin lining the hallways at 10 a.m., and balloons are allowed. However, participants must remain in the hallways for the entire commencement, and following the parade, they’ll be able to meet their student on the grass field in the front.
Photo opportunities will be available afterwards in the gym.
Parents upset about changes, reasoning
After news of the change was shared on social media, a number of parents voiced their frustrations and dismay at a decision that had been made without student or family input.
Many said they wanted their students to have the same experience as all the grades before them, and that they’ll be missing out on a formal celebration of their accomplishments.
In the email sent to families, four reasons were provided as to why EVMS had opted out of promotion:
- Extending Academic Rigor and Engagement
- Inclusive Participation for All Teachers and Students
- Emphasizing High School Graduation as the True Goal
- Designing a Meaningful Celebration
On extending academic rigor, Conley wrote that the “formality of the promotion ceremony requires setting a firm cutoff for grades, which often shorten the time available for meaningful instruction and assessment.”
By adopting a celebration format, the school can extend the “drop-dead” grade submission date by one week.
“This additional time will allow teachers to continue delivering rigorous, engaging lessons, maintaining high academic standards until the end of the school year,” Conley wrote. “Keeping students focused on learning longer can also help reduce behavioral issues typically associated with the final weeks of school.”
On Inclusive Participation, Conley said the previous promotion ceremony limited teacher participation, since only a “select few can be directly involved, while others are tasked with covering duties such as traffic duties.”
He said the new celebration format would involve every staff member, which would “foster a sense of teamwork and collaboration that reflects the collective effort of guiding these students from 6th through 8th grade.”
“This inclusive approach would provide a stronger sense of community and shared accomplishment among students and staff,” he wrote. “Every 8th grade student will be invited to participate in the celebration.”
The “true goal” should be graduating high school, not middle school according to Conley.
“Shifting from a formal promotion ceremony to a celebration reframes the narrative, placing greater emphasis on high school graduation as the ultimate goal,” he wrote. “This change helps students and families view the 8th-grade milestone as an important step within the larger context of their academic journey, rather than an endpoint.”
He said celebrating achievements in a way that “underscores future aspirations” will help reinforce the value of long-term success.
Finally, the last reason for the switch was to design a meaningful celebration, as a formal promotion ceremony does not allow all families to be included, since there has to be restriction for the number of seats inside the gymnasium.
The new celebration format will allow all family members to be included, he wrote, and it will be more comfortable as the gymnasium gets “extremely hot in June, and the AC units have historically never kept up.”
“We strongly believe that this new format would create a more meaningful and community-centered experience that better serves our students and aligns with our mission as educators,” Conley wrote at the end of the email.
Several parents said they reached out to the school and the district in a hope to change their mind, offering solutions such as having the ceremony on the lawn instead of the gym, or switching it to Carson High School.
Some parents stated they hadn’t heard back at all, while others said they’d spoken with Conley directly and felt dismissed.
In an email sent to one parent by Superintendent AJ Feuling, he said that EVMS has deliberated on the idea for some time, and recognized that “there may be some concerns about trying something a little less traditional than what they have done for eighth graders over the last 40 yers.”
He wrote that while he recognizes some parents are upset over the change, he’s also had parents tell him they were excited about the change.
“After 40 years, I don’t think it is unreasonable to try doing this a different way,” he wrote. “It may be that they learn families overwhelmingly dislike the event, love the event, or have suggested modifications for the next time.”
He said he appreciated that they considered a way to allow more than just three attendees for each student to come to the event while still keeping it at their school site, which he thinks is important.
He said once the event is over, he would encourage families to email EVMS administration to provide feedback on the event, whether it be positive, offering changes, or if they feel strongly it should go back to a traditional format.
The issue with the parents who were upset by the change, however, is the fact that they weren’t surveyed for their feedback before the decision was made.
When Carson Now reached out the district regarding the change, Feuling said:
“For years, EVMS staff and families have been frustrated by the conundrum of wanting to have their eighth-grade recognition event on their site, but having to limit family or friends attending for each student to three people because of capacity limitations in their gym. This year, EVMS deliberated to come up with a new idea for what the event could be like so that families can invite any number of people to attend the event. The solution was to turn it into more of a school community celebration than a formal promotion ceremony. We look forward to celebrating with families and friends of our 8th grade students. EVMS administration will debrief after the event and consider feedback as they plan for the next year.”
The celebration will continue as planned on June 4.
