Nashua Board of Education Meets to Discuss the Policy Inside their District

Nashua Board of Education Meets to Discuss the Policy Inside their District

by Christian Hughes

The Nashua Board of education met recently in order to discuss policies that may affect principals, assistant principals, teachers, and students alike.

These policies can sometimes be very boring like on July 19th, 2022 when the school board passed policy JLCEA which mandated maintenance records on AEDs and other devices inside of the schools. Or the policies could be something as impactful as JIC which pertains to student behavior and the discipline that follows after it. Changes to the policy are voted on by a group of 9 elected officials, who run for office every two years.

Policies written by the Nashua Board of Education are very inflexible like the JIC policy previously mentioned. The guidelines in the JIC dictates what kind of offenses qualify for what type of disciplinary action inside of the Nashua School District.

Bekah Savage a Nashua High School North junior spoke about her run-in with how the JIC works in practice. During Covd-19 Ms. Savage left the school during her e-block. Ms. Savage then drove to the local Dunkin Donuts for lunch. Ms. Savage made it back to the school in time for her next academic block and was let in by another student. After being contacted by security and two assistant principals (one of which didn't want to suspend her) she received a (less than) 1 day suspension that would stay on her personal record.

Ms. Savage was cited for a Class II violation of the JIC’s rules which falls into the same category as distributing revenge porn and possession of tobacco products on school premises.

Ms. Savage also spoke on what she thought about her punishment. “I came back,” she said. “ I was in school for school and didn't miss any class time.”

she also spoke on how she believed it was upsetting that should the Assistant Principals not suspended her they would have received disciplinary actions for overlooking a victimless act.

When Ms. Savage asked who she thought should control the rules, regulations, and disciplinary actions of students she said, “The principal is literally the head of the school, he is in the room where it happens, why should he not control them?” This is much of the consensus throughout Nashua and many of the teachers, students, and community members are fed up.

Mrs. Merrill, an English teacher at Nashua High School North, also interviewed about the school board stated “I would love it for the School Board members to be more informed on how schools work.”.

The Teachers and students are upset with the status quo of the Board of Education and their handling of many things that the Principal and Assistant-Principals could handle better.