GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. — East Kentwood High School has announced new precautions for the upcoming Class of 2022 graduation ceremony. This comes following a shooting at the high school that occurred during the Crossroads Alternative High School graduation on Thursday, May 19. The East Kentwood High School graduation ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. at the Falcon Stadium.
The gate will open at 5:30 p.m. Bags will not be allowed into the stadium. No one will be allowed to enter the parking lot without a ticket to the graduation. The graduating students will have a different colored ticket than their guests, which will be given to them during the graduation practice earlier in the day. Guests who leave the stadium will not be able to re-enter. After 8 p.m., no guest will be allowed to enter the stadium.
For the ceremony, the school will use a weapon scanning system and specially trained dogs. There will also be a heightened police presence of both uniformed and plain-clothed officers. The district’s Crisis Response Team is collaborating with the Kent County Sheriff’s department and a national school safety consultant to launch several strategic measures during the ceremony. “Our goal is to send a strong message that we will not tolerate weapons on school property, of any kind, and that we will continue to host an event befitting the excellence of our graduates,” wrote Superintendent Kevin Polston in a letter to the families of graduating seniors.
The 2022 East Kentwood High School graduation ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. the Falcon Stadium.
