After some wrangling, School Board OKs return to hybrid

LACONIA — The School Board approved a temporary return to hybrid learning during a meeting that at times turned tense over the ways children’s education has changed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

During a meeting on Tuesday, the board approved the plan presented by Superintendent Steve Tucker that will have students once again alternating between days of in-class instruction and remote learning. The switch will begin Monday for the students in the middle school and the district’s three elementary schools. At Laconia High School, which is midway through a 14-day quarantine period after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, the hybrid schedule will begin Nov. 30.

It will remain in effect through December when students go on Christmas vacation. School officials will re-evaluate the situation in January, the superintendent said.

Tucker recommended shifting back to hybrid because of the increasing number of new COVID-19 cases, both statewide and locally.

The seven-day average of new cases across the state has tripled since the beginning of the month, from about 100 cases per day to more than 300, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Tucker said the jump in the number of COVID cases in the city is a cause for concern. He said the number of cases had increased from 15 to 34 in just two weeks, while the number of cases in Belknap County had surged, from 52 to 147.

He further told the board that since September, 676 students have had to stay home for a time because they had one or more COVID-related symptoms.

“The data is unfortunately moving in the wrong direction,” Tucker said. Going back to hybrid will reduce the number of pupils in class “so we can stay in school to some extent,” he explained. “It’s time to pull back, based on what we’re seeing and the guidance,” Tucker said.

Board member Dawn Johnson, however, argued that the number of COVID cases in the city was too insignificant to warrant any suspension of full-time, in-class instruction.

She said the disruptions in the regular school routine are causing students to fall behind academically and are causing students to suffer psychologically.

“We are ruining our kids and sending them into turmoil,” Johnson said. “They can’t focus,” she continued, “all over 34 people in the city of Laconia.” Those 34 people “may be sick or may not be sick because 75 to 85 percent of the tests out there are false positives,” she asserted.

Board member Aaron Hayward immediately challenged the accuracy of Johnson’s claim.

“We are not here to debate false accusations about data,” Hayward said, adding: “You have just given us a statement here about testing that is still not correct.”

When Johnson and Hayward started talking over one another, fellow member Laura Dunn interjected, “We can disagree without raising our voices.”

Johnson formally proposed that there be no return to a hybrid schedule, but her motion failed when no other board member seconded it.

After more than a half-hour of discussion the board voted to approve Tucker’s proposal. The vote was 4-2, with Johnson and Dunn voting against. Member Nicholas Grenon abstained.

Dunn said she was not opposed to the temporary hybrid schedule, but was concerned that special education students will not be getting all the specialized services they are entitled to.

Earlier in the meeting Johnson voiced her displeasure with the decision to place Laconia High School on full remote education after one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 and contact tracing found that the number of staff who also had to quarantine because of close contact with the infected staff member was too high to allow face-to-face instruction to continue.

“Why are we wearing masks if no matter what we do you’re going to close the school for one case,” she asked Tucker.

When Tucker replied that the district was following state and federal guidelines, Johnson suggested the school district ignore the guidelines.

“That’s a suggestion, not a mandate,” said Johnson, who is opposed to the mask mandate.

Johnson said she was frustrated that her views with respect to COVID have not gained any support among board members or the administration.

“I’m tired of being pushed around and ignored … all the community have no voice because everybody else just wants to stop and push our kids aside, and I’m done with it,” she said.

The board put off until its Dec. 1 meeting any discussion about how to deal with the potential impact created by school staff members who travel outside New England during the Christmas vacation.

Current state guidelines stipulate that New Hampshire residents who travel outside the six-state area must quarantine for 14 days upon their return. Tucker said about 18 percent of school staff said they planned to travel outside New England during the holidays.

He said state guidelines allow school workers to have a shorter quarantine if they get a molecular COVID test. The results of those tests are usually available in three to four days, he said.

School officials are concerned that if too many teachers need to quarantine and if the district then cannot find enough substitute teachers to replace them, the schools might have to revert to remote instruction until the quarantine period is over.

Board member Dunn asked Tucker for a breakdown of how many staff members in each school are planning to travel beyond New England in order to determine which schools would more likely have staffing problems.

School District Business Administrator Christine Blouin said the district cannot issue a mandate limiting an employee’s travel.

“We cannot forbid travel, but we’re not encouraging it,” she said.