MANCHESTER, N.H. – Most Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) Meetings don’t end with a round of applause, but after last week’s almost eight-hour marathon, adjourning before midnight with something to show is a victory in itself.
In their first in-person meeting in several months that did not end prematurely, the BOSC approved a pair of interconnected measures on Monday related to the potential return of in-person learning later this fall.
First, the BOSC ratified finalized proposed return-to-school metrics, which had been tabled during the marathon meeting a week earlier.
The metrics, which would present a three-step set of criteria regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on whether in-person learning could partially or fully return to Manchester, had been criticized by members of the BOSC for vagueness. A more detailed checklist was added within existing benchmarks in the second and third steps of the metrics, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig felt confident that the BOSC’s concerns had been addressed. [See plan below].
Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Gillis said that additional checklist questions could be added in the future, with each of the checklist items would be checked weekly and future ones may be added as needed.
BOSC Member Leslie Want (Ward 4) also requested the addition of a fourth “lowest” risk tier in the first step of the metrics, which Gillis and Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt said was being developed.
BOSC Member Arthur Beaudry (Ward 9) had several questions regarding safety, voicing concern over the feasibility of protecting staff and students in school facilities.
Goldhardt told Beaudry that the district could not force students or staff to be tested for COVID-19, but could conduct temperature checks upon entrance to school facilities and also have parents sign waivers pledging they would not send their children into schools if they were sick.
The metrics were approved by a vote of 11-3, with Beaudry, James O’Connell (At-Large) and Joseph Lachance (At-Large) opposing.
In the second item, also tabled last week, the BOSC addressed the return-to-school plan. Last week, the plan had hit a snag when it was discovered that approximately one-in-five kindergarten and first-grade teachers could opt-out of teaching in-person under exceptions with the Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Unlike students at higher grade levels, students in kindergarten, preschool and first grade will begin the year in a hybrid format, with half of the students learning in-person on Monday and Tuesday and learning remotely on Thursday and Friday, with the other half mirroring the first half.
This format is also in place for vocational students at Manchester School of Technology (MST) as well as students with a native language other than English, better known as English Language Learning (ELL) students
While the aforementioned teachers will still be able to avoid teaching in-person lessons, accommodations have been made to allow those teachers to teach all-remote, with Goldhardt confident there will be enough teachers to start the school year.
Although Assistant Superintendent Amy Allen said the numbers remain in flux, as of Aug. 31, at the Kindergarten level there were 32 teachers for 441 in-person students and 15 teachers for 299 remote students. In first grade, there are 33 teachers for 524 in-person students and 14 teachers for 401 remote students.
There are also 13 teachers for 147 preschool in-person students and four teachers for 43 pre-school remote students as well as 23 teachers for 100 in-person students at MST, six teachers for 14 remote students at MST, 17 completely full-time and one 95 percent full-time teachers for 94 ELL in-person students and seven ELL teachers for 35 remote ELL students.
Goldhardt warned that continuing remote learning too long could have an effect comparable to the educational loss found after summer vacation when students’ knowledge had atrophied due to a lack of continuous education.
Craig agreed, saying she was one of the 70 percent of parents that hoped for a full or partial return to in-person education. However, both Craig and Goldhardt agreed that a gradual approach is best to balance safety and learning.
With the metrics for returning to school approved earlier in the meeting, Goldhardt requested an amendment to a decision made earlier this month that would preclude any return to school until November at the earliest.
Instead, he asked that Sept. 25 be the new date to determine whether a full or partial return to in-person learning would be possible, but that full or partial return taking place on Oct. 12 if all the criteria were met within the metrics to allow that full or partial return.
Goldhardt said it would take that multi-week time frame between Sept. 25 and Oct. 12 to prepare the school buildings for the return of students, but if the metrics worsened, a full or partial return to remote learning could occur immediately.
The plan was approved 12-2, with O’Connell and Beaudry opposing.
In spite of his two votes in opposition, O’Connell praised the amount of work done by the administration. He also referenced several e-mails he received from staff members indicating anxiety over plans for the start of school and their attempts to reach out to district HR officials had not been answered, hoping that the evening’s decisions signaled that the staff members’ concerns had indeed been heard.
BOSC Member Jane Beaulieu (Ward 10) followed O’Connell’s comment by referencing a request several months earlier by Goldhardt for any staff members to voice their concerns directly to school principals rather than BOSC members.
BOSC Member Kelly Thomas (Ward 12) was absent. Beaudry, Lachance and BOSC Member William Shea (Ward 7) participated remotely.
