| | Hello and welcome back to School Zone, the Concord Monitor's education newsletter!
This week, class is in session at colleges around New Hampshire, and some administrations are already cracking down on student parties and seeing COVID cases rise.
In local news, Concord students are picking up their supplies this week in preparation for remote classes beginning Tuesday. Merrimack Valley, Franklin, John Stark Regional and Shaker Regional school districts begin Wednesday.
We have the second installment of our educator Q&A series this week, featuring Merrimack Valley High School teacher Jeff Neilsen. These Q&A profiles highlight educators who are making a positive impact in their communities and they run every other Tuesday on the education page of the newspaper. If you'd like to recommend an exceptional educator to be featured in this series, send me an email!
In preparation for the first day of school next week, I'm looking to talk with Concord parents of kindergarteners who will be experiencing school for the first time remotely. If this sounds like you, let me know!
Additionally, I'd love to connect with families of students of all ages to hear what the first day will look like for you, whether it's happening at home, in a school building, or at a supervised learning space.
As always, let me know if there is a topic in our community that you would like to see covered.
Thanks for reading!
Eileen O'Grady
Education reporter
Concord Monitor / Report for America
Contact Me:
[email protected]
Twitter @eogrady27.
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| Central New Hampshire public school districts are mostly opting for a remote or hybrid models, while private schools are mostly operating in person.
Area charter schools, which receive government funding but are privately managed, are going in both directions. Those choosing hybrid models cite a desire for caution while those choosing in-person cite small class sizes that keep risks down. |
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| | | | For Jeff Neilsen, a social studies teacher at Merrimack Valley High School, connecting with students and finding a way to make them smile is one of the most important parts of his job. |
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| | | In Concord High School cafeteria, a sea of brown paper bags loaded with supplies for some of the 1,700 students are all ready for student pick-up on Wednesday. Photos by Monitor photographer Geoff Forester. |
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| | | College students returning to New Hampshire campuses under strict COVID-19 distancing restrictions have already tested school administrations with off-campus parties and police officers are cracking down. |
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On Aug. 22, the university reported 23 positive cases of the virus across the three campuses. On Monday, the number had jumped to 44.
This increase comes only a couple of days after Kenneth Holmes, the vice-provost of UNH, sent an email to students condemning those who were caught partying off-campus
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| | “I’m nervous because I don’t really know what it’s going to be like this semester,” Matthew White, a sophomore, said while sitting on a pile of his belongings outside the Pondside 3 residence hall. “But I’m also excited..I just can’t wait to start."
Story by Jack Rooney at the Keene Sentinel. |
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| | | Concord Monitor summer intern Mary Steurer wrote an article for us about the return to campus life at Notre Dame University in the COVID-19 era. |
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| Concord Monitor summer intern Ann Gehan wrote an article for us about the return to campus life at Duke University in the COVID-19 era. |
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| | Kitty Michelotti has lots of experience with homeschool. She educates her three sons, ages 13, 10 and 6. Despite her enthusiasm for homeschooling, she says that the parents who are opting to homeschool this year because of the pandemic face unique challenges.
Story by Kelly Burch of the Granite State News Collaborative |
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| In this letter to the editor, Concord resident Michelline Dufort writes that Concord School District's set of rules that have classes remote but sports and extracurriculars in-person are confusing, and that the district should consider a hybrid model. |
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| In this opinion piece, Stephanie Patrick, the executive director of the Disability Rights Center New Hampshire, and Frank Edelblut, N.H. Dept. of Education commissioner, write that as school districts prepare to open in remote and hybrid models, they should be sure to individualize plans for students with IEPs. |
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Eileen O'Grady is education reporter for the Concord Monitor. O’Grady is the former managing editor of Scope magazine at Northeastern University in Boston, where she reported on social justice issues, community activism, local politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a native Vermonter and worked as a reporter covering local politics for the Shelburne News and the Citizen. Her work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, The Bay State Banner, and VTDigger. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in politics and French from Mount Holyoke College, where she served as news editor for the Mount Holyoke News from 2017-2018.
Advertising opportunities available in School Zone. Contact John Mattes at [email protected] or 369-3242. |
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