Lakeville schools may move grad ceremonies back home

On Friday, June 11, about 850 Lakeville high school seniors will accept their diplomas before a crowd of thousands at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.

It may be the last time the district's graduation ceremonies are held there.

Graduation for Lakeville North and Lakeville South should come back home next year, the school board told administrators this week.

It's news that may not be welcome to students who have as many relatives as does Helen Jantscher, a Lakeville South senior whose graduation guest list includes "both my parents and my two brothers, my grandma and grandpa, my aunt and uncle, and maybe a few of my other aunts and uncles."

This will be the eighth straight year that Lakeville's graduation has been in Minneapolis, but the question of where the event should be held has long divided the community.

Many families like Target Center because -- unlike the high schools -- the arena has enough space for students to invite all their nearest and dearest. Plus, "it's really big and open, and you get a feeling of, 'Wow, you're actually graduating!'" said Jantscher, who has played in the band at previous ceremonies.

But others complain about the rush-hour drive from Lakeville, as well as the hassle of parking or taking light rail downtown. And renting Target Center isn't cheap: Coming home would save about $15,000, the district estimates.

The school board, which did not take a formal vote when it talked about the issue Tuesday, did not say whether graduation should be held on campus or at another venue in Lakeville. High school principals will come up with a plan and keep the board advised, said Superintendent Gary Amoroso, who said he hopes to know by early summer where the Class of '11 will graduate.

Bigger class sizes led Lakeville to move graduation to Minneapolis in 2003, and the space crunch will still be a problem if the event comes back to campus, Douglas said.

Principals don't keep a close tally of how many people show up at Target Center for North and South ceremonies, which are held back-to-back, but each school probably hosts 4,000 to 5,000, he said.

Limited seating at the high schools would mean seniors would probably get four guest tickets each, Douglas said. In the past, some students have brought more than 20 relatives to Target Center.

If the ceremony is at school, Douglas said, he'd prefer it be indoors rather than on the football field. Outdoor graduations cost more because of the set-up involved, he said. The school would have to be ready to move the show inside if it rains, anyway -- and it has in many recent years, he said.

The school board has talked about looking for other non-school Lakeville venues that might be suitable, including Hosanna Lutheran Church -- an option that the principals have researched. Hosanna could seat more than 4,500 people, Douglas said, but the main sanctuary itself could hold only 2,500, so most of the extra seating would be for people watching video of the ceremony.

Many suburban schools hold their graduations on-site -- including all of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district's high schools, for example -- but a fair number rent outside venues. Target Center hosted eight graduations last year, including Wayzata's and Osseo's, said Courtney Hasko, the center's marketing director.

The Lakeville high schools paid $20,500 to rent Target Center last spring, plus more than $6,000 for sound equipment rental and other fees. The schools also paid for buses to downtown Minneapolis.