Schools shift gears, roll out remote learning

LACONIA — Thousands of homes across the Lakes Region will soon become classrooms as schools switch to remote learning following Gov. Chris Sununu’s order closing schools in an attempt to lessen the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Teachers and school administrators in every school district are expected to spend the better part of this week preparing lesson plans, activities, and assignments so students can begin remote learning next Monday.

The governor’s order, announced at a news conference Sunday afternoon, calls for school to remain closed through April 3.

“The governor will later determine whether public schools … (will) need to remain closed for a longer period of time,” Laconia Superintendent Steve Tucker said in a letter he sent out to parents Sunday.

Holy Trinity School, in Laconia, like other Catholic schools across the state, is also switching to remote learning through at least April 3.

Tucker said middle and high school students would receive online learning under the plan being worked out. Students in pre-K through 4 will receive printed lesson material. The district is working to provide online devices for fifth-graders. Paper options will be available for students who do not have internet access.

Laconia schools plan to use Office 365, Google Classroom, and Alma for online learning.

But roughly 10 percent of Laconia High School students lack internet access, Assistant Principal Dave Bartlett told an emergency meeting of the Laconia City Council on Sunday. Tucker said he did not immediately know how many middle school students would be unable to learn online. He said the district was working to provide computers to students who do not have them.

Districts were also working on schedules when students or parents could go to a student’s particular school to pick up course materials.

In Laconia, school staff will work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday this week with lunch break from noon to 1 p.m. as long as remote learning continues, according to Tucker.

Gilford Superintendent Kirk Beitler acknowledged that the pandemic has forced educators to enter largely unfamiliar territory.

“As this is a long term remote learning experience teaching and learning will be a work in progress,” Beitler said in a statement posted on the district’s website.

Tucker also said the remote learning would require flexibility on the part of teachers and administrators.

In the Shaker Regional School District which serves Belmont, teachers will be working today and Wednesday to prepare remote learning lessons, Superintendent Michael Tursi said.

Laptop computers will be distributed to students who need them, as well as course material will be handed out at a students respective school on a staggered basis on Thursday and Friday. The day and time for the pickup will depend on the student's last name, he said.

Students in grades three through 12 will use online learning, while learning material for students in K through Grade 2 will be emailed to their parents.

"The goal is that all students will have all the material they need," Tursi said.

There are about 1,300 students in the Shaker District.

The district is setting up hotspots at each of the district's four schools so students who do not have internet access at home can work on their lessons outside the school buildings, Tursi said.

Districts were also putting together plans to get food to children for whom school meal programs are their main source of nutrition.

Got Lunch! programs, which help provide needy children with healthy food during the summer, were being asked to get involved in helping to pack and distribute food.

Tucker said he hoped that food distribution for those Laconia students who need it could begin as early as today or Wednesday.

Tursi said food distribution for Shaker students would begin today at Belmont High School and Canterbury Elementary School. Starting next week food will be delivered, using school buses which will travel their normal bus routes.

At Sunday’s City Council meeting, Tucker reiterated what he had said last week, that the response to the threat of coronavirus needs to be “measured and proportional.”

“We don’t know how big a threat this is,” he said.

But Tucker also noted that inconsistent messages from government officials have complicated the planning process.

“It’s hard to make decisions based on the variance of information we’re getting,“ he said.

Beitler also acknowledged the challenges that schools and families will face in the coming weeks, but he said the change from life as usual also might help to bring families closer together.

“These are uncertain times in our world, please take time for yourself,” he said. “Do things with your children that are normal and consistent; watch movies, read books, play board games or get outside to exercise. Take care of each other.”