A series of lightning strikes from a slow-moving storm system forced Boerne ISD officials to halt Thursday's graduation, opting to resume the ceremony at 9 a.m. Friday, the district announced.
Dark clouds began moving over the Boerne ISD Stadium at about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, just minutes before the graduation ceremony started. Once the ceremony got underway, introductions were made and speeches were delivered before Boerne Principal Shane Wilson began handing out diplomas.
About half of Thursday's graduating class crossed the stage before school officials shut things down. An official briefly explained to the crowd and the students seated before them, that an approaching storm cell was casting lightning, and that the ceremony would need to be halted until the threat dissipated. Students were ushered off the field and into the Boerne High auditorium, while spectators were removed from the stands and asked to return to their vehicles.
"There was a big cell sitting just north of town, and we just couldn't get the lightning to move," Wilson said in the auditorium, minutes after delivering the news of a postponed graduation ceremony to the stunned senior class.
Wilson said a weather standard applies to any activity: If lightning strikes within a 10-mile radius of an outdoor activity, the event is halted and a 30-minute waiting period begins. Any subsequent lightning strike restarts the 30-minute clock.
BISD never even got close to 30 minutes, he said.
"It's been doing that ... we literally haven't gotten a couple minutes into the 30 minutes before it resets," Wilson said.
The school's executive team, he said, was "running through every scenario we could imagine" before deciding on the 9 a.m. Friday resumption.
Doors will open at 8:15 a.m. Friday, with students to report at 8:15 a.m. as well. There will be no introductions or speakers -- "We will walk the stage only," he said.
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