Dear SAU 70 School Community,
I hope you are all enjoying summer break and staying safe and healthy! We have been busy attempting to plan while state level guidance dribbles out of Concord and Montpelier. Both states are urging us toward some kind of live start to the new school year, while cautioning us that we'll need to follow emerging safety protocols and be prepared to switch to partial or complete remote instruction if our area sees a resurgence of COVID-19. Our administrators and teacher leaders are working with our own task force of school nurses and other health professionals to develop our approach to the start of school, since both states have left most of the decision-making to local governance. One of the first actions our task force will undertake is a survey of both staff and families to gather data that will help us with that planning. We will be asking you to let us know your level of comfort with a live return to school along with needs for child care, transportation, and technology. We know that even if we were to open schools "normally," many of our staff and families will have health considerations that may preclude them from participating fully. We hope to have our surveys ready to distribute by the third week of July. In the meantime, I encourage you to continue observing safe practices in order to avoid the resurgence of the disease that we're seeing in other regions of our country.
On a happier note, I am pleased to inform you that we have some new members of our Hanover High School leadership team to welcome! Jim Logan and Debra Beaupre will join Julie Stevenson in the main office as we say "farewell" to Justin Campbell and thank him for his eight years of service. Jim joins our team as Interim Principal after many years of successful leadership at Keene High School and the Cheshire Career Center. Jim's steady leadership working through major curriculum and operational changes in Keene will serve him and us well as we look ahead to our own share of uncertainty in the coming months. Deb Beaupre will share her talent and experience as HHS Associate Principal, having served for 16 years as a teacher in Newport, NH before taking on the challenge of school administration, most recently as Principal of Cavendish Town Elementary School in VT. Debra's commitment to children throughout her 25 years as an educator is impressive and will help keep us focused on the social and emotional needs of our students during these challenging times. Combined with Julie Stevenson's deep knowledge of and commitment to the Hanover High School community, I am confident that this new leadership team will not only see us through the next stage in this crisis, but will move Hanover High to even greater levels of student success.
As the summer progresses, I will keep you informed of any changes in state guidance and will provide you with periodic reports as our team works to plan for our coming school year. Enjoy the holiday, and the rest of summer! We'll be "back to school" in one way or another, before you know it!
Take care,
Jay Badams
Superintendent
