MANCHESTER, NH – On Monday, Superintendent Goldhardt will ask the Board of School Committee to approve fully-remote status for most students. The board meets Monday at 7 p.m. The meeting will be on Channel 22 and online at www.manchestertv.org/22. The meeting agenda is here.
Superintendent Goldhardt is calling for all students to go remote beginning around Thanksgiving and ending in mid-January. Dr. Goldhardt will ask that specialized instruction programs continue in person to the greatest extent practicable. There are two reasons for the request to go fully remote: difficulty with staffing due to quarantines and the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases. Even if we are able to avoid closing buildings due to staffing, it appears we’ll be forced to go remote due to rising case numbers anyway.
This is not the direction we want to go, but given the situation it appears unavoidable. We will bring you an update after the board makes its decision on Monday.
COVID-19 update
We have received many questions about when we would shift to high risk (red) status based on our key data point, the daily rate of new cases. To shift to a different status we need 14 straight days above a certain level. We look to the Health Department for guidance on when a trend begins. Our first day at 10 or above (the line for high-risk status) was Oct. 26. After several more days with numbers of 10 or above, we dipped below for two days. The rate was not stable enough to establish a clear trend until this week. The current trend that would take us into high risk (red) status began on Nov. 8. If that continues, we would shift to high-risk status the weekend before Thanksgiving. You can see the data trend on our dashboard.
5 things to slow spread of COVID-1
It is not too late to do something to slow the spread of COVID-19. As we wait for a vaccination, the same precautions you’ve been hearing since March still apply. In fact, it’s more important than ever to:
- Wear a mask
- Keep physical distance
- Wash hands often
- Avoid large crowds
- Do more outdoors
We’re all tired of COVID-19, and we all want things to go back to normal. But now is not the time to ease up. Please remain vigilant.
Beech Street remote learning
Beech Street Elementary school will remain fully remote next week. Crews continue to repair damage from a pipe that burst.
Families can continue to pick up meals at the school between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. while the school is fully remote.
Food options: Manchester School District continues to work with community partners to support our families with free meal options.
- Weekdays – Meals for remote learners: Remote learners can pick up meals Monday through Friday. Meals are available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. You can pick up meals from any school – it does not need to be your student’s school. Starting Nov. 2, we are no longer offering meal pickup from the following schools (the nearest school with available meal pickup is in parentheses):
- Gossler Park (Meals available at Parkside)
- Green Acres (Meals available at McLaughlin)
- Weston (Meals available at McLaughlin and McDonough)
- Hillside (Meals available at McDonough and Smyth)
- Central (Meals available at Beech St. and McDonough)
- Hallsville (Meals available at Jewett and Southside)
- Memorial and MST (Meals available at Jewett and Southside)
- Fridays – Weekend meal bags: We continue to work with SNHU, Granite Y and Granite United Way to provide weekend meal bags. There are a few ways families can get meal bags:
- Pick up from any school each Friday, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Have your student bring a meal bag home from school on Fridays (if he/she is in school that day). Please contact your school if you want to do this.
- Pick up at the YMCA Teen Center, 42 Stark Street, Manchester, between the hours of 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Fridays.
