Nashua Parent Voice To March On City Hall Tuesday

NASHUA, NH — The new parent group in Nashua that wants the city's school district to be more collaborative toward working toward returning to in-person learning in the Gate City will be marching on city hall Tuesday.

The group, which has about 900 members, will be marching at 5 p.m. at 229 Main St.

The group came together after Jahmal Mosley, the superintendent of schools in Nashua, canceled moving to a hybrid learning plan last month for all but a handful of students with independent education program plans and younger elementary school grades. In-person learning is delayed until next year.

The parents have made a formal appeal to Mosley and the city's Board of Education — requesting the creation of "a solidified and accelerated plan based on current facts, data, and defined safety measures so that teachers, parents, and students feel safe about going back to school." According to Amy Anderson Medling, one of the organizers of the group, they said they have received "no official response" from SAU 42 and the issue will not be addressed at the city's board of education meeting Tuesday — hence the march.

The district, the group said, has not communicated nor implemented "a unified, consistent, and comprehensive plan to transition students back to in-person learning." The parents said they are concerned about the "learning loss" and "the lasting consequences that affect a student's mental, emotional, and even physical wellbeing," as well as their academic and professional success. The continued delay — and lack of commitment to return to in-person, could end up "worsening existing inequities" in schools and lead to consequences "more dire" than COVID-19.

Nashua Parent Voice has submitted an eight-page appeal to the board, requesting due process, to resolve the issue, via the state's education rules.

This is the second public event the parents have held this month.

On Oct. 5, the parents marched at the school district office calling for a more collaborative process — due to "the mounting crises surrounding IEP, CTE, laboratory sciences, statistics on students falling behind, serious mental health repercussions, and the future earnings potential for students, all as the result of not being in school."

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