MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Monday, the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) approved the re-entry plan presented by Manchester School District (MSD) Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt.
The plan (see below) echoes the four-color approach used by the MSD last year, but also takes account for changes between the present and the beginning of the pandemic such as availability of COVID-19 vaccines and structural improvements to the city’s schools directed at improving ventilation.
Goldhardt and other district leaders emphasized that the plan was built to be fluid in case COVID-19 rates change within the city or other contingencies arise. However, with the advances against COVID-19 made, Goldhardt also noted that the risk of not having full in-person education is greater than the risk of educational loss from further long-term remote education.
“We had to do what we had to do, but the impacts will be lasting. We have to do what we have to do to get the kids with their children inside the building because we will not recover if we don’t,” said Goldhardt.
He added that the MSD will do whatever is necessary to ensure that students can return to school with their teachers safely for the entire school year.
Manchester Health Department Director told the BOSC that the city currently has just under 100 active known cases of COVID-19 in the city, higher than the state average, but approximately half of the peak of cases that came during the winter, adding that 99 percent of cases she has seen since February have come from unvaccinated individuals.
Thomas added that no one thing such as vaccinations, mask-wearing, social distancing or hand washing would be enough on its own to completely protect against the spread of COVID-19 and its variants on its own, urging a combined approach in the hopes of containing the virus before it mutates into a variant that cannot be addressed through vaccinations.
Thomas added that a future state of emergency by Governor Chris Sununu was unlikely, making future mitigation efforts a more localized effort based on each municipality’s needs.
Despite the new case figure dropping down to nothing inside the city earlier in the summer, the recent rise in new cases has put the school district into the “substantial controlled transmission” or yellow category of the four-color system, meaning that students would return to school with mandatory mask usage if the school year began on Monday.
Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig referred to the city’s status as the worst things could get without a state of emergency, but also noted the lack of a state of emergency and the emergence of vaccines as key points of difference between this school year and the previous school year.
Craig also added to Thomas’ comments regarding fighting the spread of COVID-19 in Manchester, stating that the best way for families with children 11 years old or younger who cannot be currently vaccinated was by making sure every other member of their family is vaccinated.
The plan passed unanimously on a voice vote with some small modifications such as adding the word “ideally” into requirements for social distancing given structural limitations in some parts of the school district as well as a requirement that all extra-curricular activities remain in-person.
Earlier in the meeting, the BOSC also approved proposals (see below) for Elementary and Secondary School Educational Relief (ESSER) II and III funding geared at increasing COVID-19 safety related improvements to the city’s schools and efforts to address educational loss incurred during remote learning.
This also passed on a voice vote with an amendment to direct the focus regarding facilities improvements toward schools, particularly Green Acres Elementary School.
