Posts Tagged ‘Londonderry School District’

Londonderry Educators Getting It Done

by tracy
The last day for students in the Londonderry School District is June 10th, but as we all know, there is little fanfare or celebration for students to finish the 2020 school year.  Proms, graduation parties, class celebrations and field trips have all been canceled or muted to match the public health needs of COVID-19.  It has been a difficult time.  Yet within the struggles of our day to day there have been many bright spots.  Teachers seamlessly transitioned to an online teaching approach and students showed great resilience in changing their  approach to learning.
In Londonderry, planning for Fall is well underway.  It won’t feel like a typical summer break for the leadership of Londonderry School District and Superintendent Scott Laliberte.  He and his group have to develop a plan that essentially predicts the future, something not easy to accomplish in this terribly uncertain time.  Some parents are anxious to get their children back to class, others are worried about health impacts and will want a home-based online learning option.  Teachers will need guidance on how to straddle the line between students in front of them and those still at home.  Protocols have to be developed before staff and students can return to the same building and social distancing creates new challenges regarding classroom space.
Superintendent Laliberte leads an outstanding group of educators who are working with the school board and town leadership to develop the best possible blueprint for September, understanding that a shift in public health circumstances could require them to shred the plan and start over again.  The Spradling Group is honored to be at the table with this outstanding team of teachers, parents, residents and educators to prepare for the next school year.
One thing is certain, if anyone can get this done, it’s our teachers… talk about a teachable moment and the value of taking what you’ve learned and applying it to the future!  Here’s hoping we can all welcome back students in person in a few months.  If that’s not possible, know that our educators will have a plan for the school year and we will figure it out together.

What do you do?

by tracy

Ever wonder exactly what we do for our clients? We get that question frequently and understand that “public relations” can be a pretty vague concept.

Here is a recent example of a successful project:

A few weeks ago, we received a phone call from the superintendent of the Londonderry school district. He expressed frustration that the federal government was going to reclassify his high school cafeteria kitchen as a “food processing plant”, mainly because they had opted out of the national school lunch program.

This was, by all descriptions, a food fight. With their data, we built a message together that explained what was happening, why it was happening, and the consequences in terms of costs to the district if this change was allowed to be made by the federal government.

With a summary in hand, we reached out to local media and the story was picked up by reporters. Not only did the media cover the school board meetings which discussed the problem, but it triggered an editorial in support of the school district, arguing the federal government had no right to punish a school for opting out of the school lunch program.

We also helped craft a letter to the congressional delegation on behalf of Londonderry, to ask for their help for a waiver. Within two weeks the waiver was received and the school could go back to preparing lunches the way they were before without the threat of being classified as a food processing plant.

Using our contacts in politics and in the media, we were able to step in and play a small role in helping the school district rectify a potentially expensive problem.

That’s what we do.

Scott & Tracy

Click on the links below to see some of the press coverage:

NH1 story

WMUR story

Union Leader article