Letter from Londonderry School Board: School Safety

As we open the school year, many of you, like each of us on the School Board, are increasingly attentive of safety and security in our schools. The School District has long had an Emergency Operations Committee, working closely with Londonderry Police and Fire to promote and prioritize safety of our students and buildings.

At the beginning of 2022, many members of the Londonderry School District admin team became “ALICE certified”, working hand in hand with our Police Department to learn new, more effective responses to a variety of potential scenarios. Over the summer, over 600 teachers and staff went through ALICE training, experiencing simulated scenarios and developing the skillsets needed to respond appropriately. These skills range from active decision making, communication, information sharing and effective, safe, evacuation and mitigation strategies.

ALICE is an acronym that stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. It is far improved from prior methods and empowers teachers and staff to make decisions based on available information rather than sitting and waiting to be told what to do. Several of us on the School Board recently had the opportunity to experience ALICE training for ourselves. We left with a sense of awe and respect for our teachers and staff who actively prepare themselves on how to best protect their students. We also left secure in the knowledge, professionalism, commitment and dedication of our Police Department and School Resource Officers. Not only do our SROs take time to obtain and maintain their credentials as certified school resource officers, they take time over the summer to train, teach, coach and empower our staff to be in the best, most educated position to protect our students. As a Board, are grateful for the chance to partner with the Londonderry Police Department and are humbled by the teachers and staff who used their time this summer to complete ALICE training.

The School District will also be hosting an informational night on September 22nd at 6pm in the LHS Gym for anyone in the community interested in learning more. To make sure we have enough seating, we are asking for RSVPs Online or via phone at 603-432-6920.

Thank you,

Amy Finamore

Chair, Londonderry School Board

Londonderry School Board Meeting Agenda and YouTube Change

AGENDA SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT NO. 12

Office of the Superintendent of Schools Londonderry, New Hampshire 03053

The meeting of the Londonderry School Board will be held on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 7:00PM at the Londonderry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, NH in the LHS Cafeteria. The meeting will be broadcast on local Cable Access Ch. 21 as well as the District’s NEW YouTube Channel.

Click Here for the Agenda

From School District Office – Building Tours August 24th and 25th starting at 6pm

Dear Londonderry Community –

Every year before school opens up, we invite the community to come see that our schools are ready for another school year. If you are interested over the next two evenings you are welcome to join the school tours that happen in the following order at the approximate times below. It is a great event to see our schools, see how hard our Buildings & Grounds Department work every summer, and understand the major projects we undertook with taxpayer support that we are very thankful for.  The architecture firm that completed our Facilities Study will also be present to answer any questions on the long term planning needs and issues for any of our schools.

Tonight August 24th :    6:00PM-6:30PM    North School

6:45PM-7:15PM    Middle School

7:30PM-8:00PM    High School

Tomorrow August 25th:   6:00PM-6:30PM    South School

6:45PM-7:15PM    Moose Hill

7:30PM-8:00PM    Matthew Thornton

We also made this brief video to highlight the major projects and work done over the summer for the community, enjoy! –

Thanks for your time and interest,

The Londonderry School District

Londonderry Communication Committee Updates

On behalf of the District Communications Committee, I want to thank those who responded to the Communications Survey. We learned a lot about communication preferences, satisfaction with our schools, and needs for future planning. Not everyone uses nor prefers the same communication methods, but we were able to look at trends and make some decisions to improve how we communicate with all of you.

Today, we would like to share some of the work we did this summer with some new resources for you that are hopefully easier to navigate. Emails from schools and our District’s website and blog will continue to be where official information originates, and we did some clean up over the summer. Teachers will be updating their websites when they return.  Based on survey feedback, we will do our best to share emails that are timely, transparent, and easier to sort by sender and information.

We also have a new site dedicated to our District’s media outlets, that can be found at: media.londonderry.org

Starting at our next Board Meeting, 9/6, the new You Tube Links will be used to house our videos so please subscribe to the new channels—they will make it easier to find sources at each school. The old YouTube channels will remain up for the semester, but are designated with (archive) in the channel name.

We also have created a website for families that houses all of the information people tend to request the most; there are hubs for each school with links to popular school-based information—we encourage you to save the hubs as favorites or a link on your desktop. There is also a District Flowchart that provides contact information for our District’s staff. We will continue to build this website which is found at: parent.londonderry.org

We will also showcase some of the great things we do on social media—please follow the Londonderry School District’s Facebook page, our Interim Superintendent’s Instagram at Londonderry_superintendent , and some of the new Instagram accounts or Twitter handles that will come out of the schools as we get up and running. Links to all of these can be found on the new media.londonderry.org site.

Finally, we will continue to share information with the community through local press outlets, and we want to continue to provide informational opportunities for families to learn more about our District. One of our first Information Nights is scheduled to discuss the ALICE Emergency Response System and school safety on 9/22 at 6pm in the LHS gym. Please Click Here to see the flier and use the following link to RSVP if you plan to attend so we can plan space accordingly. RSVP link: Family Information Night: School Safety and ALICE (google.com)

We are very excited for a great school year working together with our families to support their children; we know communication is a vital piece of that support. Work will be on-going throughout the year, and we welcome your feedback and support.

Londonderry School Board: Capital Improvement Plan & Facilities Master Plan

Hello,

From the School Board, we want to share information about the Capital Improvement Plan and Facilities Master Plan with the community. Many of you have likely seen the total price tag and rightly, feel anxious or concerned.

We know that we have a tremendous amount of square footage across our six schools, and that most of our schools are on the older side- with parts Matthew Thornton being 70 years old. As a first step in understanding where we stood, in November 2019, the school board hired a firm to go through our schools and assess where we are today and identify our most pressing areas of need and recommend priorities.

We learned that while many of our mechanical and electrical systems are near end of life, they would have reached their end-of-life years ago if it weren’t for the amazing work of our facilities and custodial teams across the district. We also learned that while grandfathered, parts of our buildings no longer meet current building code, impacting our ability to do certain renovations. Additionally, our buildings are less conducive to the way today’s teaching and learning happens- such as insufficient lab, art and library spaces as well as interior classrooms that lack access to natural light.

We also want to share what this plan is an is not– this plan is not a work order and it is not a project plan. Any large scale planned improvement goes to voters for their approval or denial and this is no different. While a CIP plan covers municipal buildings, in many ways it is similar to how any of us might look at our homes and think we want to add a garage one day but we need to prioritize replacing old windows instead- this plan identifies wants and needs, and is the first step in providing the entire community the information we need to have informed conversations and make informed decisions.

You can learn more about the Facilities Master Plan by going to our Facilities Master Planning Committee site https://sites.google.com/londonderry.org/fsc

Thank you,

Amy Finamore

Londonderry School Board

Londonderry School Board Meeting Agenda 8/2/2022

AGENDA
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT NO. 12
Office of the Superintendent of Schools
Londonderry, New Hampshire 03053
The meeting of the Londonderry School Board will be held on Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at 7:00PM at
the Londonderry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, NH in the LHS Cafeteria. The meeting will
be broadcast on local Cable Access Ch. 21 as well as the District’s YouTube Channel.

Click Here for Agenda

Londonderry School District Summer Updates

Dear Londonderry School District Families,

I wanted to take this opportunity to say a quick summer hello to you and share some important updates.  Over the past few weeks as I stepped into the role of Interim Superintendent and several others began their new administrative roles,  I am pleased to share that the transition has been smooth. I am excited about and proud of the summer work that has been going on in our District, thanks to the collective hard work of so many.

Even though the traditional school year is done, we have had a very busy summer and that will continue into the upcoming school year. Between Summer Enrichment, Summer Math Academy, our Summer Literacy programs, Summer School, and our Extended School Year (ESY), hundreds of our students have been in and out of our buildings for the last few weeks, and all our programs look great! If these summer opportunities are not keeping our wonderful staff busy, most of them are engaging in one of the many professional development opportunities we are hosting. Of course, our Buildings and Grounds Department spends long hours preparing our buildings for the upcoming school year. You are always welcome to see the state of our schools when we host building tours on the evenings of August 24th and 25th.

Also, we have two important initiatives underway regarding communication and school safety. First, our Communications Committee is revamping our websites and reviewing and improving many of our communication practices. Please be on the lookout for these updates when they are shared at the start of the school year. Also, all of our staff have begun ALICE Training to be better prepared for a “violent critical incident” should one ever occur. Our staff will be fully ALICE trained by the end of August. Soon after the school year opens, we will host an event for all parents to learn more about these safety practices; we hope you will join us to better understand how safe and prepared our schools are.

Finally, I am reaching out to you for some help; we know we will need a lot of support in some areas with staffing to start this school year. Over the last couple of years, it has become clear that we are not able to compete in the rapidly-changing labor market when it comes to our hourly staff positions. In time, we will use the collective bargaining process with our Support Staff Union to adjust to the labor market around us, but that will not happen by the first day of school. If you are able to work in our schools, even a couple hours a week, that would be hugely beneficial to our students and our schools. If you like working with kids and want to be more involved with our schools, please reach out to Melissa Thomson – mthomson@londonderry.org to discuss the openings we have and if they fit into your schedule, skill sets, and interests. We intend to bring this “call for help” to the community at large as well  so please share this need with family members and others in our community who might be interested.  Working together with our families and community, we hope to bridge this gap for our schools.

Thanks again for all your support and continue to have a wonderful summer,

Dan Black

Interim Superintendent of Schools

Londonderry School District Public Hearing Notice

LONDONDERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT

LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The Londonderry School District will conduct a public hearing regarding the use of General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance in accordance with RSA198:4-b II.  Such funds will be used to fund a one-time retention payment for Support Staff AFSCME Local 1801 and Dining Services staff.  The public hearing will take place at the Londonderry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, New Hampshire in the Cafeteria on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, at 7:00 pm.  The public is invited to attend.

Contacting the Londonderry School Board

Emails sent to schoolboard@londonderry.org will be delivered to all school board members, but it is the practice of the Londonderry School Board to have only the Chairperson respond to those emails.  If you would like to reach out to other board members for a response you can email them directly with the addresses listed below.

Emails sent to schoolboard@londonderry.org, or individual board members, become ‘public record’ and are subject to New Hampshire Right To Know requests.  They can become part of the meeting minutes when addressing an agenda item on the School Board agenda.  Personal emails will be redacted, emails without identifying information (real name and address) will not be added to that record.

Amy Finamore, Chair
afinamore@londonderry.org

Sara Loughlin, Vice Chair
sloughlin@londonderry.org

Bob Slater
bslater@londonderry.org

Amanda Butcher
abutcher@londonderry.org

Kevin Gray
kgray@londonderry.org