Good Intentions, Bad Executions: The Series of Miscommunications That Led to The SAT Catastrophe

If you know a junior or are one yourself, you may have heard about the cancellation of the June 5th SAT due to the Class of 2021 Graduation occurring on the same day at 10am. Students were notified of this decision by the Guidance Department on May 24 (two days before the late registration deadline set by College Board which incurs an extra fee) and by College Board themselves May 28 (two days after the late registration deadline). This last-minute notification angered many students and their parents. It’s important to note the series of events that led to this rather unfortunate situation that has made many students feel as though they were hung out to dry.

According to Mr. Magno, who very graciously dedicated his Thursday afternoon to the interest of journalistic integrity, the general decision to move graduation to a Saturday this year came after the success of the ceremony for the Class of 2020 this past August. Administrators felt as though that because of the extra work required to accommodate distancing requirements due to the ongoing pandemic, a Saturday morning graduation ceremony would be the best bet. This decision was officially signed off on some time in the months of February and March. Mr. Magno noted that administration notified Mr. Bonjorno, who is the liaison to the College Board, to let him communicate the closure of PVMHS as a testing site for the June 5th SAT. This happened in mid-April. Through a series of dropped balls and miscommunications, a completely booked PVMHS testing site (165 registered students) was now pretty much out of luck for taking the SAT in June.

Does it appear that Peabody High administration made an attempt to avoid the mess that a litany of students find themselves in? Yes. Does it also appear as though there were multiple opportunities for compromise and avoidance of this mess? Absolutely. As the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

If graduation absolutely had to be on a Saturday because of the accommodations needed for Covid and the extra work required to make them happen, one would think they could hold graduation in the afternoon after SAT testing was done and all students were cleared out of the building. According to Mr. Magno, this was not an option because of logistical issues and heat during the middle of the day/early afternoon. He also noted that people could have the rest of the day to themselves to celebrate or get lunch. There are two issues with this perspective. One of them being that graduation has been held in the evening for years now. There is always heat that lingers in the afternoon/early evening that families can be prepared to handle in advance. The second being that because graduation has been on Fridays for many years in the past, people are prepared to have nighttime celebrations for their graduates. Even still, many people don’t celebrate the day of graduation and choose to have parties in the following weeks or throughout the summer. One would think that an incredibly important test like the SAT, which is still required for admission to several public and private institutions, would trump party planning accommodations, but then again, this is Peabody High.

In addition, it’s clear from what Mr. Magno said that administration was aware of the SAT being on the Saturday they were planning for graduation. This decision was final in February/March, when students had already started registering for that date. Though at the time it was noted to not be very many students, there was still an interest to be had. Even though the College Board was notified of the closure in mid-April, registration not only remained open but reached full capacity. To not even give students a heads up that that particular date would not be available or to not even have someone make sure things went through to the College Board is irresponsible on the part of the administration.

This entire situation just boils down to the bottom line that Peabody High has serious communication and accommodation issues. If administrators were better at communicating actual plans to every member of the school community, or simply just following through with their decisions to completion, this fiasco could have been very easily avoided. This rings true for so many aspects of events and plans involving Peabody High School. Ultimately, if the district’s motto is “Every student, every day,” they need to start acting like they mean it.