When Scotland County Schools instituted smaller learning communities at Scotland High School, the school board opted to keep a single graduation ceremony for the five schools.

Now school officials are seeking public input on the possibility of holding five graduation ceremonies – one for each of the smaller learning academy – at Pate Stadium this May.

The Scotland County Board of Education will consider whether it is better to hold one larger ceremony or five smaller ceremonies for Scotland County's graduating seniors at their Jan. 11 meeting, according to Community Schools Coordinator Andy Cagle.

Cagle says there are two major reasons the school system is looking at separating the graduation ceremonies – first, the school board was told by an admissions officials from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that class ranking and smaller learning communities do not reflect poorly on college admittance; second, the school system believes this will build a stronger identity for the individual schools.

He added that smaller ceremonies would likely be easier to manage and would give more control to principals.

Cagle says those who would like to give input on the proposal may either appear before the school board during their January meeting or they may call his office.

School board meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the A.B. Gibson building on Main Street in downtown Laurinburg. Cagle can be reached at 277-4459 ext. 345.