School Reopening Task Force

The Londonderry School Board is in the process of forming a 2021 School Reopening Task Force, which will be tasked with reviewing and recommending elements of the District Reopening Plan for the 2021-2022 School Year. The Task Force will be composed of parents, staff, and community members, and efforts will be made to ensure that the members represent a broad range of our community. We are also actively seeking applicants with backgrounds in medicine, public safety, mental health, and policy development.

 

If you have interest in being considered for membership on the Task Force, and have the ability to commit to 5-6 virtual meetings during the month of July, you are encouraged to apply for membership using the form linked below. The School Board will deliberate upon the structure and membership of the Task Force at a special meeting on Tuesday, July 6 at 7:00. Those chosen for membership will be informed after that meeting.

 

Please click here to access the application form.

 

Applications will be accepted until 4:30 PM on Wednesday, June 30th.

School Board Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, June 22nd

The meeting of the Londonderry School Board will be held on Tuesday June 22nd, 2021 at 7:00PM at the
Londonderry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, NH in the LHS Cafeteria. In light of the current
health crisis, we will be observing social distancing guidelines in this evening’s meeting. The meeting will also
be broadcast on local Cable Access Ch. 21 as well as the District’s YouTube Channel.

Click to View Agenda

Mask Policy Update: June 17th

We are writing today to inform you of a change to our current safety protocols in the Londonderry School District. Yesterday afternoon, the New Hampshire Department of Public Health Services released new “Permissive” guidance regarding face masks in schools and child care facilities. This in effect gave us their recommendation that masks can now be optional in our buildings going forward. There was no time frame on the guidelines, and indications are that this will remain in place as long as community spread numbers continue to be low. While it is too early to say with complete confidence, it appears that this guidance could remain in place through the reopening of school in the fall.

Where we are following NHDPH guidance by virtue of our reopening plan, the District is empowered to make this adjustment now. We are currently working on a method by which parents can communicate their choice of masking for their child to the schools, which will likely be either a form or a permission slip. You will receive details on that method of communication from the buildings as soon as it is ready. Our summer programs start on 6/28 and we will certainly be ready by then.

Relative to masks in the fall, we do believe that this recommendation will still be in place by then, given the absence of a significant spike in COVID cases and a subsequent change in guidance from the NHDPHS. We intend to continue forward with our planning process to collect data as well as parent and teacher feedback over the summer, and to present our update to the reopening plan to the School Board in August.

YouTube Video of Tuesday, 6/8 School Board Meeting

Over the past weekend, it has come to our attention that YouTube has deactivated the video of the 6/8 meeting of the Londonderry School Board. The District regularly broadcasts meetings of the School Board on this format, and posts recordings of meetings in order to be sure that Londonderry residents have the ability to see meetings that are of interest to them. In the case of this particular video, we have been informed that the video has been taken down because it violates the YouTube Community Guidelines, and specifically their prohibition of content that contradicts the guidance of the WHO and the CDC regarding COVID-19 protocols. We have been alerted by YouTube that subsequent violations of this policy could result in the District’s channel being deactivated. The District has initiated an appeal of this decision, and in the meantime has posted a recording of the video on our own internal website. Residents may now view that video linked on the School Board page of the district website. It is of vital importance that members of our community have the ability to see what transpired during this meeting and all meetings of the School Board.

View School Board Meeting Videos Here.

School Board Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, June 8th

The meeting of the Londonderry School Board will be held on Tuesday June 8th, 2021 at 7:00PM at the
Londonderry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, NH in the LHS Cafeteria. In light of the current
health crisis, we will be observing social distancing guidelines in this evening’s meeting. The meeting will also
be broadcast on local Cable Access Ch. 21 as well as the District’s YouTube Channel.

Click to View Agenda

Heat Mitigation Strategies for Schools

Londonderry School District

Looking ahead at the weather forecast, we are anticipating unseasonably warm weather early next week. As such, the school district will be taking additional steps to ensure that students and staff remain as healthy and comfortable as possible.

First of all, the school district will be implementing an early release schedule for Monday June 7th and Tuesday, June 8th. Londonderry High School and Middle School will dismiss at 12:05 on those days, and our elementary schools will dismiss at 1:00pm. We will not have PM classes at Moose Hill those days as well. This early release schedule is for all our remote students too.

The shortened day will allow us to keep the buildings as cool as possible, while also using other measures. While a vast majority of our school buildings are not air conditioned, we will take the following steps to reduce the impact of unseasonably warm days for our staff and students:

  1. Creation of ‘cooling stations’ for mask breaks in larger areas, shaded outdoor areas, and any areas of buildings that are air conditioned.
  2. Relocation or reorganization of existing spaces to allow for 6’ spacing and the removal of masks during instructional time.
  3. Air flow in HVAC systems adjusted to maximize turnover of cooler air early morning and evening.
  4. Deployment of fans around the buildings, specifically in a manner consistent with updated CDC guidance.
  5. Providing students and staff with additional cool water and breaks during which to access it. All are encouraged to bring individual containers that may be refilled at either bottle-filling stations or water containers provided in each school.
  6. Use of larger spaces in the building, as well as tents outside, for socially distanced instructional areas in which students can remove their masks during instructional time.
  7. Students and staff are encouraged to use lighter weight face masks, including those disposable masks provided by the District that, while still approved means of protection, meet applicable standards for safety.

As always, if parents have concerns about the impact of the heat on their individual children, they may opt to have their students remain at home during this time and make up work upon their return.

We have reviewed these measures with health and safety officials from the Town, and they are in full support of this approach.

Updated NH DHHS Guidance on Facemasks Outdoors Only

In a presentation on June 2nd, the NH DHHS updated its guidance on facemasks outdoors. You can access the full presentation here.

NH DHHS states: “With levels of community transmission decreasing, we recommend that schools and childcare agencies can remove masks in outdoor settings (regardless of a person’s vaccination status), including at recess and during non-contact sports.

  • NH DPHS still recommends physical distancing between children/students, to the extent possible.”

As has been the case the entire school year, we follow the guidance from NH DHHS. All of our schools will work to apply this update to all of our end of the year activities outside and work with families and students on their personal choices around facemasks while they are outside.

This same document continued to recommend facemasks inside the classroom as they have done all year. We have consulted with town officials on that continued recommendation and they agree with this guidance. You can access the full presentation here.

“NH DPHS continues to recommend face mask use and physical distancing in indoor settings where unvaccinated groups are gathering and potentially within 6 feet of others for a prolonged period of time.”

To reiterate earlier communications, we have made no plans around reopening for the next school year in terms of facemasks and other mitigation strategies. We are waiting for both the CDC and the NH DHHS to provide their guidance.