Posts by Kelly Burch
New Hampshire colleges and universities are launching new programs with a sharper focus than ever on real-world career applications. Degree and non-degree programs are also more tightly tailored to the needs of the Granite State economy.
School districts around the state are scrambling to draft policies about whether and how to charge tuition to students enrolled in the Education Freedom Account program — students who, unlike traditional homeschoolers, are not legally entitled to free participation in district programming.
Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest nursing home owners — and operator of 16 skilled nursing facilities in New Hampshire — has filed for bankruptcy protection.
“This program has worked extremely well for a long time and hasn’t cost the state any money,” said Rep. David Nagel, R-Gilmanton, who is also a physician. “What’s problematic about this bill [is] from the very beginning, virtually no stakeholders supported it. That should be a red flag for everybody.”
After an hour-long public conversation with the commissioner of the NH Department of Education, school board members in Manchester – the state’s largest school district– remained frustrated by a lack of clear answers and unconvinced that proposed revisions to the state’s minimum standards for public schools, known as the 306s, will improve education in the Granite state.
The draft proposal “really appears to dismantle public schools and water down what it means to be a public school,” said Christina Pretorius, policy director for Reaching Higher NH.
The workshop was the first event sponsored by Open Arts United, a new Manchester-based nonprofit that seeks to increase access to the arts in underrepresented communities throughout New Hampshire and eventually around the country.
Finding employment can be difficult for people with disabilities. Nationally, the unemployment rate for that demographic is about twice what it is for the general population, according to a 2022 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Members of the local recovery community say they’re increasingly accepting marijuana use as an important harm reduction strategy for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). Harm reduction is an approach to treating substance use disorder that aims to keep people who use drugs alive and as healthy as possible.
Teachers, administrators and advocates worry that the revision of the 306 rules is being used to destabilize public education.
While some districts have embraced the new approach, others have lagged behind.
New Hampshire is nearing the end of a more than three-year effort to revamp the state’s core educational standards. When approved early next year, these new rules will steer the course of public education for at least the next decade. In this continuing series of stories, the Granite State New Collaborative will explore what those changes are, how they came about and what they mean for the future of public education in the Granite State.
Not having enough substitute teachers can impact student outcomes and teacher wellness, educators say.
Substitutes are a critical part of the education infrastructure, and can’t be an afterthought, experts say.
Since the pandemic, a rise in classroom disruptions and pressure to help students catch up makes substitute teaching even more challenging, experts say.
After generations of hiding their lineage, some Granite Staters are reconnecting with their indigenous roots.
The Center City in Manchester has a reputation for crime, but a community organization is trying to change that narrative.
The tutoring program, which is available to students of color and immigrant students in Manchester, is the flagship program of MCAC, serving more than 70 students. That program grew out of a need the community expressed, Adumene said, and is emblematic of the larger mission of MCAC: to strengthen connections and provide community-driven solutions within immigrant communities of color in Manchester.
The program launched on Jan. 1, providing a centralized system of phone, text or chat support to people in crisis. ‘Crisis’ is self-defined and could mean anything from feeling overwhelmed or anxious to having suicidal ideation. The program aims to provide an equitable, low-barrier access point to mental health services for anyone who needs them.
