The DCHS Class of 2017 will graduate at Vanhooser stadium in Smithville on May 26, despite a push to hold the ceremony at Tennessee tech.

While two recent senior class surveys indicated that many students wanted to graduate at Hooper-Eblin Center in Cookeville, members of the board of education voted at their regular monthly meeting Monday night that the event remain in Smithville.

While graduation at DCHS has taken place on the high school football field, the possibility of rain caused the date to be backed up from Friday, May 20 to Thursday, May 19. The change apparently upset some people whose travel plans had to be reconsidered.

Board members voted 4-1 that the ceremony stay in Smithville, with Jerry Wayne Johnson, Shaun Tubbs, Doug Stephens, and Danny Parkerson voting in favor, and Kate Miller casting a vote against the measure. W.J. (Dub) Evins, III and Jim Beshearse were absent.

In the first survey of seniors and their families, 81 percent of those who responded chose to graduate at Hooper-Eblin. Because of low response to the first survey, a later vote was taken among members of the senior class, which revealed that 57 percent wished to graduate at Tech, 23 percent did not, and 19 percent didn’t care either way.

Board members said that the football field at the high school is the only venue in the county large enough to accommodate graduation crowds. The only apparent way to get the event indoors is to move it outside the county. While holding commencement at Tech would be less expensive, as rent on the Tech Gym is apparently less expensive than renting chairs, a sound system, and other costs, some members were concerned about liability issues, and feared that it might cause hardships for family members who might lack funds or transportation to get to Cookeville.