School district hosting online forums for parents

Katelyn Sahagian, The Derry News, N.H.
·2 min read

LONDONDERRY — In an effort to help parents and students, Londonderry is taking to live stream videos on social media websites to help answer questions they have about bullying and other important topics.

Londonderry School District is tackling some parents’ toughest questions in a series of digital and in-person seminars, beginning with one to address kindergarten and elementary school bullying.

“This is the first forum of this kind,” said Dan Black, the Londonderry Superintendent. “The communications committee decided there are different things we should always be doing to help navigate the school system. Bullying is a big one; its a topic always on parents’ minds.”

The first seminar, at 4 p.m. on April 17, at Moose Hill, 150 Pillsbury Road, will discuss the school’s policies on bullying, specifically what defines bullying versus a peer conflict and the process for how the schools address both.

There will be another seminar addressing middle and high school bullying on May 15 at Londonderry Middle School, 313 Mammoth Road. The time will be announced after the spring break.

Black said the school’s policy comes from the legal definitions of bullying as described by New Hampshire.

The district’s definition of bullying describes it as a single significant incident or a pattern of incidents that involves a written, verbal, or digital communication, or a physical action or gesture, or any combination, that physically harms a student, causes them to not want to come to school, disrupts the daily school cycle, or creates a hostile environment.

“If there’s more of a darker instinct behind (the action), that could rise to the act of bullying in one instance, but it tends to be a pattern,” Black said.

There will be associate principals and school counselors there to explain the process of how they work with students in both situations, and they will take questions on social media and from in-person attendees.

Black said this will be the first two seminars of this kind, but they hope to utilize this livestream platform for other events, like helping students transitioning between grades and schools.