This evening the Candia School Board voted to reopen the Henry W. Moore School for in person instruction for all students in the fall.  The model that we are planning to implement is Return to School Plan A: Students safely learn in school from the Henry W. Moore School Return to School Overview.

This plan involves the school building opening to all students in the school at the same time.  It includes a minimum of 3’ of social distancing between student workspaces in grades 5-8 with 6’ distancing in grades K-4.  Additionally 6’ of social distancing will always be considered where feasible, and when not possible, staff and students will be expected to wear masks.  This plan will increase the number of kindergarten, third and fourth grade classrooms to allow for the 6’ social distancing at these grade levels.

Creating cohorts of students who stay together for the duration of the school day and limiting mixing with other groups is an important part of this plan.  In order to facilitate this, teachers in the upper grade levels will rotate to the students rather than students rotating to teachers and unified arts teachers (specials) will travel to classrooms rather than students traveling throughout the building.  In addition, we are planning for lunch to be served in the classrooms and cohorts to be separated during recess.

Additional cleaning and disinfecting protocols are being established along with a variety of other protocols related to mitigating the risks associated with COVID-19.  Relevant protocols and procedures will be shared with families as they are finalized.

The first day of school for students will be Tuesday, September 8th.  Specifics of the school schedule are still being determined.  The sample school start and end times listed in the overview have not been confirmed at this time as we are still working on finalizing transportation schedules.  Finalizing these details is a priority and start/end times will be communicated as soon as possible.

Please watch your email for a return to school parent survey that will be sent out next week.  In the meantime, if you have questions or comments regarding the return to school, please submit them using this form: https://forms.gle/QPGEharLyPBZTRn76.