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Surveys: Reopening uncertainty among Fall Mountain, Newport guardians

Staff Report
A significant number of locally surveyed families say they are uncomfortable with their children returning to their school buildings in the fall, even with safety protocols in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to two surveys conducted by the Fall Mountain Regional School District and the Newport School District.

In two separate surveys — one titled “Remote Learning and Planning for the Fall” issued by the Fall Mountain Regional School District and another titled “Reopening Community and Staff Survey 2020” issued by the Newport School District — less than half of guardians said they feel comfortable sending their children back to school in September regardless of school measures to maximize social distancing and hygienic practices.

Both districts intend to announce their finalized reopening plans for the 2020-2021 academic year at the end of the month.

Newport Superintendent Brendan Minnihan told the Eagle Times last week that the town intends to fully resume in-person classroom instruction for students who wish to return, but will provide remote-based alternatives to students and families who elect to stay home. The district will also have back-up plans in case of a severe virus outbreak in the region and the district needs to transition immediately to a hybrid or fully remote instructional model, the superintendent added.

Fall Mountain Superintendent Lori Landry, in a letter sent to families Tuesday, said the district is still exploring all instructional models, including in-person instruction, remote learning and a hybrid instruction of the two, in which schools would break students into smaller cohorts and alternate their classroom schedules.

“Please know that our plan will be based on what will best protect the health and safety of our students, staff and their families,” Landry wrote. “That has been and will continue to be our top priority.”

Landry forwent discussing any specifics being considered, only saying the district is following guidelines issued by the state Department of Education and the American Association of Pediatrics. Similar to Newport, the plan will include alternative options for families who do not wish to return their students to their school buildings.

Districts publish survey results

The Fall Mountain Regional School District survey conducted in June received responses from 726 guardians and more that 1,000 individual students. The cooperative district consists of five communities — Acworth, Alstead, Charlestown, Langdon and Walpole — which serves a combined 1,550 students, with the largest portion coming from Charlestown.

Half, or 50%, of the surveyed guardians in the Fall Mountain Regional School District said their first preference for September would be a full-return to classroom instruction. Thirty-eight percent said they would prefer a hybrid instructional model and approximately 12% wanted to continue learning remotely.

In contrast, 61.4% of families said they were completely or mostly uncomfortable with their child returning to in-person instruction with any amount of protocols until a treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 is approved by the FDA. Twenty-two percent said they were comfortable with their child returning and 16.5% were neutral.

In Newport, which closed its survey on July 17, 290 families and 28 students from the middle or high school grades participated in the district survey. The Newport School District has an enrollment of about 1,000 students.

Slightly more than 25% of Newport School District families said they felt “very comfortable” about their children returning to school in September, even with provisions in place. The percentage of guardians was equal to that of surveyed staff (25% of 126 surveys) and only slightly less than the students (about 30%).

In regard to safety measures, the overwhelming majority of guardians supported regular hand-washing and easy access to hand sanitizer (94%), daily school cleanings (93%) and daily temperature checks of students and staff (72%).

On mask-wearing, 67% of guardians said masks should be required for transportation staff and 50% said they should also be required for staff and students. Additionally, approximately 35% of guardians indicated that they would not allow their children to return to the school building if masks were required for students. The other two-thirds of guardians said a mask policy would not influence their decision.

The Newport School District survey did not ask families whether they would prefer returning to full classroom learning or a hybrid instructional option.

According to Minnihan, the district assumed that most families would want to return to classroom learning. Instead, the district asked families about their preference of a hybrid instructional model in the event that schools must reduce their class sizes due a surge in the pandemic.

The most preferred hybrid instruction model among Newport School District families and staff (46% of surveys) was a split-week schedule, in which students would attend school two or three days each week.

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