Graduation will look different this year for several schools in Baldwin County, as some will be moving their ceremonies out of their cities to the Foley Event Center at OWA Parks & Resort.

According to Baldwin County Public Schools Communication Coordinator Chasity Riddick, Daphne, Spanish Fort and Elberta high schools will be undergoing renovations to their campuses and football fields during the spring semester. Due to those renovations, there is a chance the fields could be unfit for the May ceremonies.

Riddick said that included in the renovations is installing new turf on the football fields, which can only be completed in the spring when football
season is over. Riddick said the Foley Event Center was chosen as a replacement due to its size and amenities.

After parent feedback from social media, Daphne High School polled its senior students and Spanish Fort High School polled the parents of senior students to determine the final location of the ceremonies.

Email correspondence from Daphne Principal John Comer to the parents of senior students stated that students were presented the two location options, and they voted on their preferred choice.

Comer said in the email that having the ceremony at the Foley Event Center would ensure graduation is unaffected by adverse weather, provide an air-conditioned facility, more parking, a modern audio/visual system and eight guaranteed guest tickets for each student, and the entire class would be guaranteed to graduate together.

If students chose to have the ceremony at Jubilee Stadium in Daphne, there would be no guarantee of the field being completed by the ceremony date and only four guaranteed guest tickets for each graduate. In the case of inclement weather, the ceremony would be moved to the Daphne Civic Center. Comer said that due to the smaller size of the Daphne Civic Center, the class would be split into two ceremonies based on last name, A-M and M-Z.

Ultimately, students and parents at both Daphne and Spanish Fort voted to move the ceremonies to the Foley Event Center, and Riddick said the school system is still waiting to hear back from the Elberta High School principal on their final decision.

"They are exploring other options, and we hope to have something finalized within the next week," Riddick said, "We wanted all of the classes to graduate together and not be limited to only a few tickets per student. Once we find out about Elberta, we will be able to work on a contract with the Foley Event Center regarding cost."

Riddick also said that Baldwin County Virtual School will be moving its ceremony to the Foley Event Center as well due to the graduating class outgrowing the space they have used in the past.

The new locations and dates for the 2023-24 graduation ceremonies are:

Daphne High School
May 14 at 7 p.m.

Spanish Fort High School
May 13 at 7 p.m.

Baldwin County Virtual School
May 14 at 1 p.m.

Elberta High School
TBD