Dept. of Ed releases surveys on school reopening thoughts from school staff, parents

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CONCORD, NH – This week, the New Hampshire Department of Education School Transition Reopening and Redesign Taskforce released a survey issued to education professionals and parents across the Granite State, looking for viewpoints on school re-opening options this fall.

Among 11,808 school staff members, the survey revealed a sentiment of both concern and resolve.

For teachers taking the survey, 79 percent said they would definitely return to in-person education if their schools are open in the fall, despite concerns about their health (75 percent) and their students’ health (84 percent).

Just under half of teachers said their experience with remote instruction has been positive, but also felt that the Spring 2020 impromptu remote learning experience still had flaws. According to 82 percent of teachers in the study, remote learning did not have the same standards or rigor as in-person learning, yet 83 percent of teachers said their workload has increased over the remote learning period.

This fall, 71 percent said they will modify any remote learning and 52 percent said they were likely to experience burnout if changes were not made from their current responsibilities.

In a parallel survey of 1,041 school and district leaders, school principals also said they would definitely return to in-person work if summoned (91 percent), but showed far more concern over the health of their staff (90 percent) and their students (88 percent) than themselves (65 percent).

Principals also felt an increased workload during the spring (80 percent), and 79 percent said they plan to make significant improvements on remote learning if it remains as a key component of curricula in the fall.

The 41,910 responses from parents were separated five groups delineated by how many children each parent has enrolled in public school.

In that survey, if their child’s school is open in the fall, 70 to 59 percent of parents depending on the group would send their child back for in-person learning, although a comparable range indicated concerns about health and safety.

Like the teachers, approximately half (54 to 46 percent, depending on the group) reported a positive overall experience with their child’s remote instruction experience, but also reported concerns about the impacts of social distancing on their children (78 to 74 percent).

Full copies of all the surveys are available on the DOE website.

About this Author

Andrew Sylvia

Assistant EditorManchester Ink Link

Born and raised in the Granite State, Andrew Sylvia has written approximately 10,000 pieces over his career for outlets across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. On top of that, he's a licensed notary and licensed to sell property, casualty and life insurance, he's been a USSF trained youth soccer and futsal referee for the past six years and he can name over 60 national flags in under 60 seconds according to that flag game app he has on his phone, which makes sense because he also has a bachelor's degree in geography (like Michael Jordan). He can also type over 100 words a minute on a good day.