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Cap-and-gown ceremonies will still take place, with the focus “on the academic achievements” of the students, said Centennial Collegiate principal Cody Hanke.

Letters were not sent Thursday to families of Nutana students or Mount Royal students. A decision had previously been made at Mount Royal to discontinue banquets.

Hanke, serving as a spokesman for public school principals, stressed that while the traditional banquet may be ending, graduation celebrations could remain in place. Schools may choose to have a prom or a dance. Some may have a tea. After-grads that are organized and supervised by parents will continue.

“Sometimes traditions that change are difficult to accept, but progress moves us forward and we move on,” Hanke said, noting that many of the immediate responses he heard were “an emotional reaction and that’s to be expected.”

The idea of ending the banquets was first floated in Saskatoon as a discussion item two or three years ago and was revisited this fall. After consultations with counterparts in Regina, where schools ended grad banquets in 2015-16, a decision was made to move ahead, Hanke said.

Regina officials, Hanke said, “had the gift of hindsight. They let us know that after the announcement things were hot but things cooled off … They learned the conversations would be difficult.”

Spooner said she “didn’t think it was fair” that an event is being taken away from what she says is a majority of students and families who support and attend grad banquets. According to Hanke, about 20 per cent of last year’s senior class at Centennial did not attend the banquet, and that number has been as high as 40 or 50 per cent at some schools.

Spooner said while she’s disappointed with the decision, and the fact she’ll miss out on a night she and classmates had already talked about, she’ll still celebrate with the people closest to her. She still plans to get a new dress for the occasion, too. It will be a smaller group, however, at an affair they plan themselves.

Between the after-grad party and some kind of dinner, Spooner said she and her friends will still celebrate their grad, though it won’t be exactly as she had been imagining.

“Just need another place.”

ddeibert@thestarphoenix.com

Twitter.com/davedeibert