SAU 16 to comply with Sununu's mandate and return all students April 19 seacoastonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from seacoastonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SAU 16 Superintendent David Ryan is recommending the Exeter area school district stick to its plan for reopening its largest schools May 3. He is seeking to request a waiver rather than meet Gov. Chris Sununu s mandate to begin full-time in-person learning April 19.
The waiver request to the New Hampshire Department of Education would be for Exeter High School and Cooperative Middle School as well its largest elementary schools: Stratham Memorial School and Lincoln Street and Main Street schools in Exeter. These schools are currently operating during the coronavirus pandemic with half the students attending school in person on alternating days.
Ryan wrote he is recommending the district s Exeter Region Cooperative School Board, Exeter School Board, Stratham School Board and the Brentwood School Board submit the waiver request.
EXETER Several area parents have started an online petition calling on the SAU 16 administration to “commit to an action plan” to bring back middle and high school students to in-person learning full-time.
Parents Melissa Hanlon and Susan Shanelaris along with other SAU 16 parents have circulated the Change.org petition that quickly garnered more than 500 signatures.
The petition calls on the administration and the Exeter Region Cooperative School Board to commit to following the state of New Hampshire’s guidelines for reopening schools, as opposed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It also calls on SAU 16 to commit to allowing for 3 feet of indoor social distancing, instead of the CDC recommended 6 feet.
Around Exeter: Arjay s donates $5K to Community Children s Fund
Portsmouth Herald
EXETER The Exeter Area Garden Club is offering beautification mini-grants.
The club has presented 85 mini-grants to Seacoast Area gardeners in the past 10 years. As of June 2020, they have awarded over $15,000 to area residents.
Public areas both large and small have benefited from the program. Gardeners from Stratham and Exeter as well as those from the greater Seacoast area (Barrington, Kingston, Hampton, Epping) have received mini-grants.
Grant amounts are $100 to $400. Applications will be accepted between March 1 and May 1st, so applicants have time to think about what they plan to do once spring arrives. Applications and requirements are available at ExeterAreaGardenClub.com under the tab community service.
Stratham teacher s gift box biz celebrates notable women
By Kathleen D. Bailey
EPPING – Katie Graycar Ricciardi loves putting Christmas stockings together. I enjoy it more than I enjoy buying the big gifts, she said with a smile. I always have a theme.
Ricciardi has expanded her stocking-stuffing to a new business, Cheeky Marie, where she stuffs and sends gift boxes focused on inspiring women to young girls all over the world. The Epping resident and Stratham Memorial School teacher is educating a whole new group of girls, most of which she will never meet, and she s having fun doing it.