Franklin Schools SAU #18

To all of our theater performers and their families, We had such a wonderful summer, creating theater and making magic happen on the stage at the Franklin Opera House. We loved every moment we had with all of our performers from Get Up and Go, Moana and Disaster! For any of you who were able to participate or come and see a performance, we are so glad you shared those moments with us. As we move into the 2021- 2022 school year, we are unfortunately faced with the continued worry and added stress of covid and doing whatever we possibly can to keep all of our performers safe, while allowing them to continue to perform, and keeping the safety of all of our volunteers and audience patrons in mind as well. It’s a lot to consider on top of the regular stress of just putting a production together. We have had numerous meetings and discussions with the school, the Opera House and Footlight Boards, as well as other theater organizations in the area and have had to make some decisions. Although these may not be what we had hoped, we feel these are the best steps we can take moving forward to continue to keep all involved safe and also ensure that our productions do not get shut down part way through the process and never get to be shared with a live audience. We are hoping that in the spring, we can return to more normalcy and run our K-12 District Wide musical program where we can bring in all of our students and have over 100 of them performing together at the Historic Opera House. We also plan to run our FACT programs in the summer of 2022 providing our children in Franklin with additional opportunities to be on stage. At this time, this is how we are proceeding: MATILDA: Matilda (a school production) was originally cast in Jan. of 2020 but was shut down in March of 2020. We have tried to bring this show back four times since then and will be producing it this fall. However, due to current circumstances, we can only offer this opportunity to children who are in grades 6-12. Masks will be required during rehearsals and most likely, performance masks will be used during the show. We apologize to any of our cast members who were a part of this production in 2020 and are not yet in grade 6. Sadly, it is impossible to bring over 100 children into that space together at this time. Those who were already cast should reach out to Mrs. Finley and confirm whether they are continuing or not. They do NOT need to re-audition. However, any children who were not originally a part of this production can attend auditions on either Sept. 14 OR 16 at 5 pm at the Opera House! More audition information will be available on the school website soon. ELF the Musical: This is a Footlight Community Theater production. They are mandating vaccines for any performers 12 and up. Children who are under 12 are welcome to audition, but will be required to wear a mask at all times, including during the performances. All auditions for this production are open and run either Sept. 14 or 16 at 7 pm. Please see their website- www.franklintheater.org for more information.

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!

2021-2022 Bus Routes have been posted to the district site and all individual school sites. If you have any questions, please call your child's school. Thanks!

All outside sports activities today for FMS + FHS are canceled. FMS and FHS vb will be inside and the FHS soccer and fb teams will be inside as well. FMS football will still be doing impact/concussion testing in the fms computer lab at 4pm. Email dsylvester@gm.sau18.org w/q's

We are still in need of players, especially for fhs & fms field hockey. https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-middle-athletics-fall-2021-registration https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-high-athletics-fall-2021-registration

Dear Franklin Families, I hope you are enjoying the summer and looking forward to the warmer weather next week as much as I am! I would like to thank all of our students and families that participated in our extended summer school programming. It was great to see student's smiling faces learning with their peers. I am also happy to report that we had 0 reported cases of COVID-19 during our summer session. As we prepare for the opening of school on September 7th, I wanted to share with you where we are with the pandemic and its impact on our planning. Please know that I am monitoring community transmission rates, Franklin's vaccination rates, and Franklin's active case counts continuously as this is a fluid situation as we head back to school in the fall. We remain committed to our plan communicated at the end of June in providing full day in-person learning for all of our students. You will recall that we were dismissing one hour early each day last year so that we could provide remote learning. That will not occur as I do not expect that remote learning will be continued this fall. In regard to our mask usage, safety protocols and cleaning procedures, we are working on our plan and will release a draft of the plan to the public on Monday, August 16th for public comment and input. We anticipate more guidance midweek from the NH Department of Public Health in regard to these issues. What we know for sure at this point is that masks are mandatory on all school buses per federal mandate. If the transmission rates and case counts rise, I expect that masks will be implemented to some degree when we reopen schools in September. The Franklin School Board will be meeting on August 23rd at 6:00 in the Franklin High School cafeteria to discuss and approve the plan. The public, as always, is welcome to attend. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions and enjoy the rest of your summer. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent

Dear Franklin Families, Our food service department will continue to deliver meals using our buses 5 days a week through September 3rd. Additionally, hot meals will continue to be served at our middle school cafeteria window until 12:00 each day. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent

FMS Fall Practice Dates/Times: Wed 8/18 = field hockey 3:30-5 at Daniell Park, volleyball 3:20-4:50 at fms gym, soccer 3:20-4:50 at fms field, football 5:30-7 (M-W-TH) 3:30-5 (Tue's) at fhs lower field. Mon 8/23 = cheer 3:30-5 at fhs gym. Register at: https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-middle-athletics-fall-2021-registration FHS Fall Practice Dates/Times: Fri 8/13 = football 5-7 at fhs lower field. Mon 8/16 = soccer 5-7 at fms field, field hockey TBD at Paul Smith School field. Mon 8/23 = volleyball 5-6:30 fms gym. Wed 8/25 = cheer 5-6:30 at fhs gym. Register at: https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-high-athletics-fall-2021-registration

We are in need of more players for Fall Sports at FMS + FHS or we are in jeopardy of not having some teams (field hockey especially). Please register asap in FamilyID at the following links: FMS - https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-middle-athletics-fall-2021-registration FHS - https://www.familyid.com/franklin-school-athletics/franklin-high-athletics-fall-2021-registration

This message is being sent on behalf of the UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center: Hello Everyone! Reaching out to remind you about the Equine Collaborative with Merrimack County 'Open Barn' today, June 23rd, from 4-6pm. Come visit and learn a little bit about the ponies, meet the staff and check out available summer program offerings for Merrimack County Youth! On-site registration available. Please let us know if you have any questions - we look forward to seeing you! kindly, kathryn kathryn conway (she, her, hers) Operations Manager 603.497.2343 UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center, Inc.

Good Afternoon 8th Grade Families, I am pleased to share with you that we are going to be able to open up 8th grade graduation on Monday evening at the middle school to all who would like to attend. We will still have 4 reserved seats for each family but other family members are welcome to attend and sit in the extra seats or bring chairs and sit out on the soccer field. It is predicted to be a hot evening Monday so be sure to bring some water and we will have water available for the students. Looking forward to celebrating our 8th graders on Monday night. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent

Good Morning Franklin Families, Good news. Due to the changing restrictions, we are going to be able to open up graduation to all who would like to attend this evening. We will still have 4 reserved seats for each family but other family members are welcome to attend and sit in the extra seats, bleachers or bring chairs and attend out on the field. I am pleased to be able to offer this to the families of our graduates. Looking forward to celebrating the Class of 2021 with you tonight. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent

Good Afternoon Franklin Families, We have received updated guidance today from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the use of masks in school. Due to low community spread of the virus, DHHS recommends removing the mask mandate indoors for staff and students. Starting tomorrow, mask use will be optional in the schools regardless of vaccination status. Masks will still be required on the school buses at this point in time. Please inform your student's school if you would still prefer that your child wear a mask while indoors. This guidance will apply to our summer school program as well which begins on June 28th. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent

The Paul Smith School Parade is ON for 1:00 pm today! We look forward to seeing you there!.

On Thursday, June 10, in keeping with the Franklin NH tradition of the last Class Day Parade in America, Franklin Middle School held our own neighborhood parade! Thank you our many devoted fans and to those who contributed photos, especially Hunter LaFlamme's dad, Robbie! Here's the link to more pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AYWO_sAz7kSfAT1gtdbAc65t10hvwVBO?usp=sharing

Al’s Village Pizza and FHS Male Athlete Of The Week

Al’s Village Pizza and FHS Female Athlete Of The Week

Dear Franklin Families, I have received updated mask guidance from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regarding outdoor mask usage. I have included a link below to their latest guidance document. Please refier to this website for details. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/covid19/documents/school-call-presentation-060221.pdf The guidance recommends that masks no longer need to be worn outside in the school setting regardless of a student or staff member's vaccination status (slide 11 of the guidance document below.) The guidance does suggest we continue to social distance outside to the extent possible. Effective at the end of the day today, per the DHHS guidance, we will no longer require staff or students to wear masks while in an outdoor school setting. This includes recess, athletics, after school outdoor events such as the prom this Saturday night, outdoor graduations, parades etc... Our mask policies remain unchanged in the indoor setting. Masks will still be worn by all indoors when 6 ft. distancing cannot be maintained. Please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Dan LeGallo SAU 18 Superintendent