Sinkhole forces graduation shift at Douglas County school

A sinkhole has forced Alexander High School to move next week's graduation ceremonies out of the Douglas County school's stadium.

"Unfortunately, our stadium was adversely affected by the floods of September 2009, and its deterioration has accelerated recently," principal Nathan Hand said in a note posted on the school's Web site. "As of this week, the Alexander football stadium, the site of our past graduation ceremonies, has been deemed unsafe."

Assistant principal Rob Alford told the AJC on Thursday that the hole, which is now covered by wood, was discovered by one of the school's coaches. The hole developed under a concrete plaza area at the top of the bleachers and near the base of the pressbox.

"It was a small hole at first, and as sinkholes do, they just get bigger and bigger," Alford said. "We were fortunate to catch it before we had any incidents where we had large groups of people [in the stadium]."

Alford said it was obvious that administrators would have to find another site for graduation.

"We got in touch with the University of West Georgia and they had a venue that's going to be perfect for us," he said. Graduation ceremonies will now be held at 8 p.m. on May 28 in the university's coliseum in Carrollton, about 25 miles from Alexander.

Once the decision was made to move graduation, "our parents, our kids, everybody just kind of rallied around," Alford said. "It made the best out of a bad situation. Everybody just pulled together."