Principals at Bulloch County's three public high schools plan to wait as long as possible before deciding to hold 2018 graduation ceremonies at the particular school’s stadium or gymnasium.

Portal’s graduation ceremonies are set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Statesboro’s at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Southeast Bulloch’s at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

With a good rain chance each day in the forecast, each ceremony may be affected.

“Our area can have rain showers appear, and then they quickly dissipate,” said Hayley Greene, public relations and marketing specialist for Bulloch County Schools. “For this reason, principals are monitoring the forecasts within a 90-minute window of each ceremony.  In the interest of providing graduates and as many families members as possible the maximum opportunity to experience graduation live on the athletic fields, the decision about each ceremony's location will be decided one-hour prior to the ceremony.”

The high school principals will make a decision about whether to activate their alternative rain plans, and they will alert graduates, family and media.  As part of their graduation planning this year, each school has communicated with its graduates about the alternative rain plans.

"Our ceremonies have now exceeded the seating capacity of Hanner Fieldhouse at Georgia Southern, so when we moved our events back to the high school stadiums last year we overwhelmingly heard from our graduates and parents about how much it meant to have graduation at their schools," said Charles Wilson, schools superintendent. "Our principals are committed to doing everything they can to ensure this year's graduates can enjoy an outdoor experience as well."

As part of their graduation planning this year, each school has communicated with its graduates about the alternative rain plans. 

The school district is providing a live stream broadcast of each ceremony for the public to watch the events off-site on www.wsav.com, www.bullochschools.com, and on the district's Facebook page. 

"We are providing a better-than-being-there quality broadcast for our graduates' families who live overseas, are unable to travel, or who are deployed with our nation's military, but it also provides a viewing option in case of inclement weather," Wilson said.

Greene said guests are encouraged to bring a small towel to wipe away moisture from seats or bring a stadium cushion. Umbrellas are not allowed inside the stadiums.