Community

Claremont considers hybrid reopening model; plan expected early August

By Patrick Adrian
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CLAREMONT — Local school officials in Claremont and Newport expressed their concerns about the state’s newly announced school guidelines for the 2020-2021 academic year on Wednesday, which they say leave too much for the districts to decide in a short timeframe and provide too little direction when it comes to making difficult decisions involving potential in-person instruction and mask policies.

New Hampshire is entrusting local school districts to determine their own reopening plans and safety policies for the fall amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. The state’s new guidelines, which were released by Gov. Chris Sununu during his Tuesday afternoon press conference, give each school district considerable flexibility and autonomy in respect to how closely it follows the state’s recommendations. For example, while the document encourages the wearing of masks, the state itself is not mandating mask-wearing; and while the guidelines encourage classrooms to space students at least six feet apart, the document only recommends a minimum of “three feet.”

Equally important, most recommendations are only suggestions and options, not requirements, to the districts. The Eagle Times found only 19 occasions where the words “must” or “shall” preceded a direction, but 155 appearances of the word “should,” which is typically legally unenforceable.

In an interview with the Eagle Times, Claremont School Board Chair Frank Sprague said the state’s over-flexibility and lack of state-level directive makes it harder on school districts whose safety precautions exceed the minimal requirements.

“There’s going to be some contention in school districts,” Sprague said. “You’ll have some who believe [operations] should be normal or along the lines that Gov. Sununu described. And there will be other school districts who want to be more safety-oriented, who will come under fire for that.”

While Claremont, like most New Hampshire districts, are still in its planning process, Sprague believes that the city may still opt to open in September under a hybrid instructional model rather than a full return to the classroom. Under a hybrid instructional model, students would have a rotating schedule in which they spend some days in school and the other days learning remotely. This model is designed to allow for smaller cohorts in the classrooms and thereby reduce the risks of spreading the contagion.

Claremont Superintendent Michael Tempesta has previously said the district was looking to reopen with a hybrid instructional model, though that was before the state announced that schools had an option to fully resume classroom instruction.

“If I had to guess right now, my sense is we’re [still] going to have a hybrid [instructional model], regardless of what the governor has said,” said Sprague, who serves on the SAU’s reopening task force. “In Claremont, we’re not going to be taking a lot of chances around student and staff safety. But that’s just my opinion.”

Newport school officials echoed similar concerns about the state’s lack of leadership in setting critical but controversial policies.

“We had hoped the governor’s task force and governor would make a stance on the most controversial topics of masks, sports, classrooms, transportation, sanitation, education models,” said Newport School Board Chair Linda Wadensten. “But instead Sununu’s plan for schools was to consider, have flexibility and see the links to CDC guidelines.”

Most of what the governor addressed at Tuesday’s press conference has already been discussed by Newport school officials, including during the school board’s meeting with administrators and teachers on July 7, Wadensten said.

At that meeting, many participants had hoped the official guidelines would help narrow some of their options or bolster support behind district policies, But Wadensten indicated that did not transpire.

“We have a clearly divided community of those who see COVID as a clear threat, others as it being a hoax, and many in-between,” Wadensten said. “As a [school] board we are charged to ensure a safe haven for students. But it is clear by the governor’s recommendations that there will be people in our community that will be and not be happy with the plan presented.”

In an interview with the Eagle Times on Tuesday, Newport Superintendent Brendan Minnihan said he worries the guideline flexibility can potentially send the community a conflicting message regarding the safety of school policies.

Using bus transportation as an example, Minnihan said the state originally sought for busses to provide adequate space between each student, but such spacing calculated to a capacity of only 13 students per bus, when the normal capacity is usually 50 students.

While understanding the need for flexibility in the state’s guidelines regarding transportation, Minnihan worries about a perceived contradictory message, in which the state essentially declares that a practice is important to public safety but dismisses a need to practice it.

Newport’s plan is still in development but Minnihan said he expects to submit the district’s plan to the school board by the end of July for approval. Minnihan said the district is preparing a three-tiered plan to address all potential scenarios in September. The district’s first preference is to bring students back to the classroom, with remote options to students who do not feel comfortable enough to return. The district will also have a hybrid instructional model and a district-wide remote learning plan as backups should public health conditions worsen.

In Claremont, Sprague said the task force hopes to bring a plan to the Claremont School Board at its scheduled retreat on Sunday, Aug. 2.

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