Commencement 2021 will be held inside George C. Crawford Auditorium on Saturday, June 26, at 1:00 p.m., principal Mark Schultz announced in an automated call.
"We are pleased to provide notice that year end celebrations in schools no longer are required to follow social distancing, capacity restrictions, testing, proof of vaccination or other previously required guidelines," Mr. Schultz said.
"Therefore, we are moving our commencement in to our air-conditioned auditorium providing a traditional ceremony for our graduates, families, and invited guests.
"Each graduate will be given four tickets. There is now a graduation rehearsal at 9:00 a.m. on Friday June 25. At the end of rehearsal students will have access to additional tickets."
Pioneer had previously planning an outdoor graduation at the Memorial Stadium.
Commencement will be livestreamed on YouTube:
State guidelines are outlined below:
As announced by Governor Cuomo on June 15, 2021, MOST COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted as 70 percent of New Yorkers aged 18 or older have received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccination series. As New York surpassed that threshold, the State's health guidelines—including social gathering limits, capacity restrictions, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, health screening, and contact information for tracing—will become optional for most industries, including pre-K-12 education end of year events, provided however there are two exceptions that continue to apply to end of academic year celebrations:
- Masks are still required for unvaccinated individuals, pursuant to federal CDC guidelines.
- Large-scale indoor event venues — defined as venues that have an indoor capacity of greater than 5,000 —will still follow the State's existing health guidance for large events. Specifically, consistent with the State's implementation of the CDC guidelines, proof of vaccination can be used to eliminate social distancing and remove masks for fully vaccinated individuals. Unvaccinated or unknown vaccination status individuals who are over the age of four must continue to present proof of a recent negative diagnostic COVID-19 test result and wear masks within the venue. However, social distancing can be reduced or eliminated between tested attendees, allowing venues to reach 100 percent capacity in all sections. (See below and linked materials for additional guidance.)