No school Monday: This Monday, Sept. 6, is Labor Day. There is no school in the Manchester School District. Students return to school on Tuesday, Sept. 7. You can find a printable school year calendar by clicking this link: https://bit.ly/MSDCalendar21.
COVID-19 update: We are currently in the yellow phase of our return plan due to substantial spread of COVID-19 in our community. (You can find our return plan here: https://bit.ly/MSDreturn821). All students are in person, however we are under the following COVID-19 precautions:
- Face masks required for all
- Physical distancing of 3-6 feet whenever possible
- Frequent hand washing or sanitizing
- Enhanced air handling procedures
- Enhanced cleaning procedures
Please screen students for COVID-19 symptoms before sending them in to school. When your student is sick, keep him or her home. COVID-19 symptoms include:
- Fever of 100.4F or greater
- Fatigue
- Chills
- Muscle or Body Aches
- Cough
- Headache
- Shortness of Breath or Difficulty Breathing
- Loss of Taste or Smell
- Sore Throat
- Nausea or Vomiting
- Nasal congestion or Runny Nose
- Diarrhea
Please note: If community spread drops below the substantial level, we would shift back to making masks optional.
Positive COVID-19 cases and quarantine: Please note that, under the guidance of the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and working closely with the Manchester Health Department, we have changed how we address positive COVID-19 cases in schools. The big change is that in-school contacts of a positive case will not automatically need to quarantine. Only unvaccinated close household contacts of positive cases – siblings, for instance – will need to officially quarantine, as required by DHHS.
In short, when a positive case is identified in a school:
- The positive person must stay home to isolate for 10 days – this is the same as last school year
- The school will send home a notification letter with anyone who was potentially in contact with the positive person
- The notification letter will ask anyone in contact with the positive case to watch for symptoms of COVID-19 over the next 14 days AND consider getting a COVID-19 test 3-5 days after their possible contact with the positive person
- However, as noted above, anyone who comes in contact with that positive case in school will not automatically need to officially quarantine
For more information about what to do if you have possibly come in contact with a positive case and you are not required to quarantine, please review this factsheet created by the NH Department of Health and Human Services: https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/
COVID-19 vaccinations available: If you or your student (age 12 or older) have not yet been vaccinated for COVID-19 and would like to be, the Health Department holds walk-in vaccination clinics Mondays from 9-11 a.m. and Wednesdays from 2-4 p.m. No appointment is needed. You must be age 12 or older; anyone younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. The Manchester Health Department is located at 1528 Elm St.
Bus routes set: Thank you for your patience in the first few days of the school year. For the time being, bus routes are set. In the coming weeks, we will closely monitor ridership to determine whether routes need to be changed. Just a reminder that routes are posted on our website at http://transportation.mansd.
Join us for CelebratEd MHT: Join Manchester Proud and the Manchester School District for a day-long celebration of Manchester’s public schools on Saturday, Sept. 18, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. in Manchester’s Veteran’s Memorial Park. This event is FREE and open to EVERYONE in the community, and features food, music & entertainment for all ages. This festival is the welcome-back party Manchester students, staff and families deserve! We’ll see you there!
