On the evening of Jan. 20, the auditorium of Historic Canton High School was filled with tension and anxiety.

Each member of the Cherokee County Board of Education revealed his or her vote to about 250 people who wondered where graduation would be held this year.

In October 2010, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a protest group in Washington, sent a letter to the Cherokee County School District urging it to change the location of graduation.

In the packed auditorium, after an hour of anticipation, the Board of Education made a unanimous decision to keep Cherokee County graduations at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, despite the chance of a possible lawsuit from AU.

"If this was a matter of church and state, it would be illegal to build a church next to a school because you would see a cross on your way to school," Tom Roach, school system attorney, said.

Several students and community member spoke at the Board meeting. Savannah Hodge, Woodstock High School senior spoke about her support of keeping graduation at First Baptist Church of Woodstock.

"I feel that my rights and the rights of the seniors I go to school with are being violated," Hodge said.

Chelsea Farmer, Woodstock High School junior and supporter of leaving graduation where it is, said all of the seniors at Woodstock were very passionate about having graduation at the church.

"I have seen friends graduate on the stage at FBCW, and when I was told that I might not get the opportunity to do so, I was angry, and even worse, hurt," Farmer said.
Robert Rechsteiner, Cherokee County Board of Education board member, pounded his gavel.

After The Pledge of Allegiance, the first speaker approached the bench to plead her story.

"You are saying that there is an issue with us graduating at a church, but I noticed when you swore in the new board members, their hand was placed upon the Holy Bible and you stated, so help me God," an anonymous student from Creekview High School, said.

After her statement, a standing applause began and got louder until Rechsteiner enforced that everyone be seated.

"They really showed their face and showed their voice, and luckily the board voted in our favor," Darleen Prem, founder of Cherokee County Parents against Moving Graduation, said.

"I think everyone in the community, to a certain degree, took a bit of personal offence to an outside organization coming into our community and telling us what we should and shouldn’t be doing," Prem said. "It got the complacent people off their couch and into the meeting and speaking up, and we were heard!"

The emotional strain that the potential graduation location change has caused was evident on the faces of Cherokee County parents and students at the meeting.

The seven board members held the burden of making the final decision of whether or not graduation would keep its residence at FBCW.

The last moments before the decision were filled with tension.

A packet was passed around that contained information about other possible venues that schools could have used for graduation ceremonies.

Some of the venues were not available on the set graduation dates, and others had limited space.

All of the venues had were noticably more expensive than FBCW.

"This is a matter of being pragmatic; this is a matter of accommodating space," Tom Roach, school board attorney, said.

Etowah Principal Keith Ball said he agreed with Roach’s comment about space accomodations.

"Based on what was in the newspapers and what had been talked about prior, I thought it was going to be a challenge for the board to vote to keep it there," Ball said.

He said graduation location is an issue of just simple facts and the facts are that First Baptist is the best place for Etowah students to have graduation and have their families attend the ceremonies as well.

Many were curious about what would happen if the board voted that graduationhad to be moved; some were angry because they thought it might be at school stadiums.

Ball said the Etowah graduation would probably have been in the gym posing a seating problem for friends and family of graduates.