Cuomo: Limited high school graduation ceremonies can start June 26

High schools across New York State can hold limited socially distanced graduation ceremonies outdoors starting June 26, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday.

Cuomo said the graduations will be limited to 150 people but it was immediately unclear whether that included students as well as family and faculty.

Ceremonies will be allowed at that time if the number of COVID-19 cases across the state continues to decline, he said.

“It gives us a couple of weeks between now and then, God forbid, the number changes,” Cuomo said during his daily news briefing. “But schools need to plan. With the progress we’ve made so far and if we continue this trajectory, we’ll be able to do that.”

Earlier Sunday, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said the county was optimistic about allowing outdoor graduation ceremonies for seniors during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m speaking to school officials who have very good plans on how we can do this,” she said.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who had been asking Cuomo to allow outdoor, in-person graduation ceremonies, said Cuomo’s announcement was “an encouraging step.”

“But it is still important to reach the ultimate goal of having the entire Class of 2020 graduating together,” Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said in a statement.

Cuomo said of 60,000 COVID-19 tests given across the state on Saturday, only 781 yielded positive results. 

“That’s the lowest since March 16th which is before we even shut down — about 1% positive,” he said. “ … That is very, very good news.”

The statewide total of COVID-19 cases is now 378,097. More than 80,000 of those cases have been on Long Island: 40,904 in Nassau County and 40,329 in Suffolk County, according to state officials.

Several Long Island school districts have already scheduled graduation events for seniors including socially distant commencements, virtual ceremonies and drive-up celebrations. 

Jericho High School held a social-distancing graduation ceremony for its seniors this past week where graduates walked solo in cap and gown alone across the stage to pick up a diploma in an empty auditorium and were then photographed outside with their parents, Superintendent Henry L. Grishman said Sunday.

That event will be included in a video montage with other senior speeches and songs that will be released on the morning of graduation June 26. The governor’s announcement will not change those…