Berlin school district takes steps to protect students from online threats

BERLIN — At last Thursday’s Berlin School Board meeting, Superintendent Julie King told board members the administration had taken steps in response to social media threats of attacks on schools nationwide the following day (Dec. 17) at schools.

King told the board there had been several threats on social media relating to schools that were supposed to happen Dec. 17.

The threats originated on TikTok and other media platforms. King said in talking with New Hampshire State Police and other law enforcement entities there was no credibility to the threats but the school district was taking steps to be safe just in case.

King said the threats were more general nationwide threats and there were no specific threats against the schools in Berlin but that several parents and students had contacted the school regarding information they had seen on social media sites regarding the nationwide threat.

In response, Berlin schools had members of the Coos County Sheriff’s Office present last Friday morning to ensure the safety of students. No incidents were reported.

In other matters:

• King told the board the district’s COVID numbers went up a bit recently. As of Thursday, the school had nine staff members and students in both school buildings that were in isolation. She said the number was higher than what the district has experienced in the past couple of weeks. She said the local COVID committee had discussed the new Omicron variant and that while the current information is that it does not cause the same level of illness as the Delta variant it appears to be much more transmissible. She said due to the transmissibility there is some concern in the district about possible staff shortages if the virus were to spread quickly among staff.

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• The board unanimously approved King’s request to file an intent to apply for state building aid. King said any district intending to put in an application for state building aid funds in July must submit their intent by Jan. 1. She said submitting the intent does not bind the school to submit an application for aid, but does allow them the freedom to do so if they intend to file for aid in July.

• King told the board the district was unable to beat the weather with respect to replacement of the roof at Berlin Middle-High School. She said that the project will now wait until spring.

• There was no public comment on the district’s six-month review of its Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services plan. King said with the federal funds the district receives it was required to put together a safe return to schools plan and that every six months the plans must be reviewed and posted to the district’s website. She said the district originally came up with its plan in June, which at the time assumed no masks, but that they later modified to the phased in approach the district now uses. She noted that the district is still in red phase, which is a full mask use phase. She also noted that the district did not originally have a plan for COVID testing, but that the district is now following a symptomatic testing model.

• King also presented the most recent financial report to the board. She said the district is on par with where the district should be at this point in the year. She said the district received a little less in state revenue, but that it received holiday credit on its insurance premium that made up for the loss in state revenue. King also said the district’s budgeted special education costs were higher than they had been the past two years. It was noted that while the number of special education students in the district has decreased, the amount of in-depth instruction for those students had increased, which resulted in the increased costs.

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