NM school moves graduation ceremony to TX after threat of $1.75 million fine from MLG’s Health Dept.
LOGAN, NM — Logan Municipal Schools in Logan, New Mexico, were forced to move their senior graduation ceremony across state lines to Texas after a threat from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s health department of $1.75 million, or $5,000 for each individual participating in the graduation ceremony.
The ceremony was to be held outside on the Logan football field where all social distancing measures could take place in the small, rural community.
The school was supposed to hold its ceremony at 10:00 A.M. New Mexico time at the First Baptist Church of Dalhart, TX located at 1000 East 16th Street. The school still required tickets for admission, however, a Texas county judge intervened and barred the school from holding its graduation ceremony at the church. A statement from the school reads as follows:
While the graduating seniors of the Class of 2020 deserve a full graduation ceremony to mark the end of their high school careers, present circumstances are making it impossible to give them such a ceremony.
After the State of New Mexico threatened to impose exorbitant fines on the school if it attempted to hold a traditional graduation, we announced plans to move the ceremony to a church in Dalhart, TX.
However, a Texas county judge intervened late last night and informed the church that they could not hold our ceremony there. The pastor apologized for having to cancel on us.
So, despite our best efforts to provide our seniors with the graduation they truly deserve, we are left with little option but to distribute diplomas as the graduates (and their families) drive through our school property, one vehicle at a time.
We are proud of their resilience in the face of unexpected challenges, and we remain confident that these Longhorn graduates have very bright futures!
One citizen criticized the move by Lujan Grisham’s health department as “a gross infringement of our American rights.” due to the six total cases of COVID-19 in Quay County, which spans more than 2,882 square miles.
New Mexico was recently ranked the state with the strictest COVID-19 restrictions out of every state and district in the union by WalletHub.