Schools

Concord Teachers Give First Graders A Summer Send-Off: Watch

Christa McAuliffe Elementary School teachers said goodbye to their first graders in person Thursday — with care packages, treats, and love.

CONCORD, NH — Remote learning has been hard on some schoolchildren as well as the educators who teach and care for them each day.

Education has not been the same since the new coronavirus pandemic hit and school districts scrambled to make the rest of the 2019-2020 school year work — including lessons from home, check-ins, and varying degrees of technologically savvy families and parent helpers.

While some kids have fallen through the cracks, and will get some extra help during the summer, a lot of children, including ones in Concord, did OK. Some even thrived.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But the separation from school has been hard on some of the younger students and teachers knew this. And in the case of educators at the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, they missed their "COMETS," the nickname for students, too.

That is why first grade teachers and assistants decided to hold a "drive-thru" sendoff for their students, with proper protection, including face coverings and gloves, of course, to offer a last goodbye to their students and wish them a fun summer.

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The teachers put together care packages — memory books, student belongings that were left at CMS, artwork, and other stuff, in pizza boxes and paper bags, as well as ice cream from Miss Polly's Traveling Treats.

"In a time where so much has felt different and left us with many hard feelings, we want our students to know how much we love them and parents to know how much we appreciate them working so hard at home," Danielle Moran, one of the teachers, said.

Parents pulled up in their vehicles and teachers met each one, chatted with the students and parents, and handed off their items. Some of the parents even brought the teachers flowers.

Paulette Boghosian, "Miss Polly," who also owns the Who Doesn't Want That? store downtown, let the teachers use her ice cream truck — and even quickly turned around face coverings for all the teachers, too, to honor the event.

At first, there were a flurry of cars but then, around 10:30 a.m., things started to die down a bit. And, teachers found shade and put on sunscreen since it had started getting a bit hot.

"I can't imagine doing this for an hour or two," Missy Noyes said. Moran added, with a giggle, the masks "don't prepare you for the amount of sweat that happens here." The teachers were also wearing, "See ya later, FIRST Grader!," T-shirts to celebrate the occasion.

Franklyn Bass, the interim school superintendent for SAU 8, who stopped by the drive-thru, said things went pretty smoothly this year. He added that he was really proud of the work teachers and parents did to get their students through the school year.

"I couldn't be more pleased," he said.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube channel.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here