Kirby School District 140 announced on May 13 that the Class of 2026 will graduate at Andrew High School, located at 9001 W. 171st Street, Tinley Park, on Saturday, May 16. Doors will open half an hour before each ceremony time, and students are also expected to arrive thirty minutes prior to their scheduled ceremony.
The graduation ceremonies will be divided by school: Grissom Middle School’s ceremony is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., while Prairie View Middle School’s ceremony will take place at 1:00 p.m. Each event is expected to last about forty-five minutes. Graduating students will receive six tickets and two parking passes for the event.
The district said it is proud of its eighth-grade graduates and wished them continued success in high school. “The KSD 140 community is extremely proud of our eighth-grade graduates and wishes them continued success in high school. Congratulations!”
Kirby School District 140 serves Cook County and includes Christa McAuliffe School, Fernway Park Elementary School, Helen Keller Elementary School, John A. Bannes Elementary School, Millennium Elementary School, Prairie View Middle School, and Virgil I. Grissom Middle School as part of its system, according to the Illinois Report Card.
For the most recent available year, Kirby School District 140 enrolled approximately 3,606 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Tinley Park and Cook County; it spent $20,628 per student in the year reviewed with total expenditures reaching $74 million according to the Illinois Report Card. The district reported a chronic truancy rate of just half a percent among its students—well below the statewide average—and maintains a teaching staff where over ninety percent are women with an average salary above $68,000 per year according to the Illinois Report Card.
As this year’s class prepares for graduation day on May 16th at Andrew High School with family members attending under ticketed entry procedures outlined by the district administration.
