By NICOLE LOGGINS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Shelby County High School graduation will be held on Wednesday, May 23 this year. Last year, the ceremony was held on a Thursday night and citizens have different opinions on the changes being made.

“I first heard of this from a student who’s a senior, and he was very disappointed because he attends Bible studies on Sunday and Wednesdays, and he said he thought Bible study was more important than graduation,” said David Bass, minister at Lay Lake Church of Christ.

According to the Shelby County school system-wide calendar graduation is still listed as Thursday, May 24, but SCHS Principal Gene Rogers confirmed the change was made to Wednesday night.

SCHS will hold its graduation ceremony on May 23 at 7 p.m. at the McChesney
Center on the University of Montevallo campus, Rogers said.

Some are under the impression Rogers changed the date in order to attend his own son’s graduation from Chelsea High School, but Rogers said the change was the result of the way the calendar year lined up.

“We didn’t say ‘hey, let’s change it for the sake of changing it,’” Rogers said. “The last day for students is different this time. It wasn’t a determination to move it at random; it was based off of this year’s calendar.”

Bass is concerned about the precedence the change is making for students who are actively involved in church activities.

Bass said, from his understanding, the school has always held graduation on a Thursday.

“If the high school goes through with this the precedence will be set that Wednesday can be treated like any other night,” Bass said. “It’s not a fair choice to put on children or a fair choice for their parents.

“There are seven days in a week, and Sundays and Wednesdays are highly respected here in Shelby County,” he said. “I just think that maybe this wasn’t thought through.”