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Assistant superintendent presents stadium option for North Ridgeville High School commencement
Summary
Assistant Superintendent David Frick proposed holding graduation at the high school stadium and purchasing a reusable stage to improve family sightlines and reduce long-term costs; board members asked about accessibility, capacity and weather contingencies and signaled support to move forward without a formal vote.
Assistant Superintendent David Frick told the North Ridgeville City Board of Education that the district is studying a shift to a stadium graduation for late May, citing crowding, parking and sightline issues at off-site arenas.
Frick summarized the district’s recent history with venues and said the district has surveyed students, staff and families. "We went out last week and took an amazing photo to kinda give you an idea," he said, describing a layout that would put students facing their families and improve viewing for guests. He added that families and staff prefer keeping commencement local: surveys showed roughly 74 percent of students, about 75 percent of staff and about 86 percent of families favoring a local, outdoor ceremony.
The assistant superintendent explained a financial rationale for the change and described costs for renting an off-site arena. "Cost put commencement on us about $13,000 if we're at Wolstein," he said, and suggested a single stage purchase could be reused by school music programs, reducing long-term costs. He said the district has requested quotes for stage purchase and expects that initial year costs may roughly break even while saving money in later years.
Board members pressed on logistics. One asked, "what's the total seating on the home side?" and heard that the home side accommodates about 500 seats; the district estimated average seat use at four to five seats per graduate. Board members raised accessibility concerns for grandparents and people with disabilities and asked how reserved handicap seating and crowd control would be handled. Frick said the stadium’s north-end entrance could allow closer parking and easier access and that staff would plan security, ticketing and monitoring once a direction is chosen.
Weather contingency planning was also discussed. Frick outlined primary and secondary weather dates and added that, in a worst-case scenario, the district could move the ceremony into community gyms or other indoor spaces. He emphasized the intent to maintain ceremony formality — caps, gowns and other traditions — even if the location changed.
The board did not take a formal vote on the plan at the meeting. Several members expressed support to proceed: one member said, "Let's set it up. Let's do it." Frick said the administration hopes to make a decision within a week and notify outside venues (including CSU) if the district will not need the date.
Next steps: staff will obtain final stage quotes, finalize accessible seating and crowd-control plans, and return with any items requiring formal approval. The stadium option will be reconsidered at subsequent meetings if formal action is required.
