With the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, SAU 41 reverted learning back to entirely in person as they removed the option to attend remotely. Remote learning was a system utilized by many students here at Hollis Brookline, and across the country during the 2020-2021 academic year. However this year, students currently are left without the option, not only at Hollis Brookline, but at schools across the state.
When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the New Hampshire community in March of 2020, schools across the state reverted to remote instruction as Governor Sununu declared the State of Emergency Order. Throughout last school year, it was a hard decision for many students and families to make: to attend school in person, or from home? For some, the decision held more weight than others. Matt Klotz ‘22 made the decision to be remote last year. “My parents, specifically my dad is high risk and so they just didn’t want me putting them through that risk and I understood, so I decided to stay home,” said Klotz. This experience was shared by many students that ultimately ended up staying home.
Taking different factors into consideration, Family and Consumer Science teacher Candice Hancock said that she agrees there are students who would benefit from remote learning this year. “When [certain students] were able to go remote they basically took control of their whole life and they managed it beautifully; they soared academically,” she said. However she does also say that juggling both remote and in person students last year as a teacher was “a challenge” and having all of her students back in person this year has been “liberating.”
The decision to operate the district fully in person again was greatly out of the hands of SAU 41. Superintendent Andrew Corey stated that “With the State Emergency order, issued by the Governor expiring, we no longer have the ability to offer remote learning.” Superintendent Corey says that there is a lot of debate right now over how districts are interpreting the expiration of the order, but from his understanding, it means that remote school days can only be used in lieu of a snow day, otherwise it would not be considered an instructional day. This means that remote is not really a long-term option for Granite State Students right now.
For New Hampshire students still wishing, or needing, to attend school remotely, while their personal school district cannot accommodate those needs at the moment, they do have access to the virtual learning academy, which is available to any student within the state.
Superintendent Corey says on the future of the district with regards to Covid-19, “based on current state guidelines I do not believe we would be able to return to remote. If cases were to spike I would return the CO-OP to a masked environment until I felt that the virus had been reduced. Once the reduction happened I would return to a mask optional environment.”
For more information on the New Hampshire Department of Education’s role in this and where they are planning on going with remote learning in N.H., visit https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2021-09-28/nh-remote-learning-blocked-school-wide-covid.