NASHUA – Nashua school students will be back at their classroom desks on April 19 as a response to emergency order #89.

Students may opt for full time distance learning or hybrid instruction. Schools must provide in-person instruction five days per week for all students who elect that option.

Nashua School district director of communications Stacy Hynes said that superintendent Dr. Garth McKinney has been in contact with every family in the Nashua school system.

“There has been communication between our schools, Dr. McKinney and our families,” she said. “Dr. McKinney issued some general guidelines that are across the school district and our principals, administrators and staff at schools have reached out to each of the families.”

Hynes said that 28 percent of students will remain with remote learning, while 72 percent will be returning to classrooms. Those numbers translate to: Remote instruction at Nashua North – 618; remote instruction at Nashua South – 652. In-person: North – 971, South – 1144.

Middle schools remote instruction: Remote, EMS -149, FMS – 212, PMS – 164; In-person EMS – 745, FMS – 476, PMS – 605.

Elementary schools for remote learning, 1046; in-person 3257.

Hynes said that it’s obviously crucial for educators to know which students will return to in-person education versus those students who will continue remote learning.

“As you can imagine, with the pandemic, each family has different circumstances that they’re dealing with,” she said, “along with their comfort level and their health situations.”

Logistics about lunches have also been discussed with parents. Hynes commended the food service department, “from the get-go.”

“They have been working to make sure all children, 18 years and younger, have been fed and the department will be working with the schools on lunches and breakfasts,” she stated.

There will be two locations in the city for students to pick up breakfast and lunch: one at Ledge Street Elementary School and the other at Pennichuck Middle School. Hynes noted that those sites will open for two hours every day.

One of the biggest concerns communicated by parents was that students would be returning to the classroom on April 19, but then would be on vacation the week of April 26 and then returning to school.

“That was out of our hands,” Hynes said. “The emergency order says Monday, April 19.”

Hynes added that the district worked directly with the order.

“Gov. Sununu said all schools open Monday, April 19,” she reiterated. “Honestly, we were already gearing-up to open up full time. We were considering a date after April vacation because we had over 900 of our staff members take advantage of the Greater Nashua vaccine clinic that was held at Fidelity Investments. That was a great opportunity for our staff to be vaccinated.

The Moderna vaccine was administered. On the weekend of April 24-25, those school staff members will get their second dose.

“Health officials tell us that you must have a two-week period following that second dose to ensure that a person is fully vaccinated,” Hynes explained. “We were definitely looking at something after school vacation. So what we did was accelerate our plans.”

Hynes emphasized that parents did have a choice for their children to remain with remote learning or attend class in-person.

“I have heard the same scenario,” she said. “That’s the challenge of public education. We educate everyone. We open the doors wide and everyone is educated but everyone is different. A lot of students really thrived with remote learning, who maybe didn’t necessarily thrive in a traditional school setting. I have heard this anecdotally. Children are children and they all learn differently.”

During remote learning, Hynes said that students have learned time management, motivation, responsibility and “making sure your Chromebook is plugged in and ready to go for the day.”

“I’m sure most teachers would say most of their students are more keyboard-savvy,” she said. “We always talk about preparing our children for the working world. They are being schooled in the same way that most employees who work. There have been some real positives that the remote experience has immersed them in.”

During the pandemic, Hynes said that there were 53 special education classrooms fully functioning all year. And through the pandemic, she added that it was essential for educators and administrators to be fluid and flexible.

“You always have to be responsive to the students’ needs,” she said. “I always encourage a parent to share their concerns with the principal.”

Hynes said that there are families with multi-generational households whose family members who have health concerns and that can impact a decision involving a student and their return to school as well.

“After discussing it, the student said, ‘Mom, I want to go back,'” she said. “Once they find out that their friends are going back, that’s a factor, too.”

For more information on the Nashua school district’s response to emergency order #89, visit Nashua.edu.

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