Title I School Family Communication in New Hampshire

New Hampshire is the second-wealthiest state in the country by median household income, but its former mill cities tell a very different story. Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and smaller cities like Claremont and Berlin have communities shaped by the departure of textile and manufacturing industries and the arrival of refugee and immigrant families who are rebuilding their lives in these post-industrial spaces. Manchester's school district is one of the most linguistically diverse per capita of any city in New England.

New Hampshire's Title I landscape

Manchester is the center of New Hampshire's Title I concentration. The city's school district serves students speaking over 60 languages, with large communities from Bhutan and Nepal (Bhutanese-Nepali refugees who lived in camps in Nepal for two decades before resettling in the US), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Central America. This diversity is concentrated in a city that is also dealing with the legacy of post-industrial poverty and an ongoing opioid crisis.

Nashua has the state's second-largest school district and significant Title I schools, with a large Hispanic community in its southern neighborhoods and growing refugee populations. Concord's schools also serve refugee families through the resettlement agencies operating in the capital region.

Rural Coos County in far northern New Hampshire has a very different Title I profile: isolated communities, a declining paper and timber industry economy, and limited services. These schools face different communication challenges.

ESSA requirements for New Hampshire Title I schools

The New Hampshire Department of Education administers Title I and monitors compliance. Required activities under ESSA Section 1116:

• Annual meeting for all parents explaining Title I status and parent rights
• Family Engagement Policy developed with parent input, distributed annually
• School-Parent Compact provided to every family, discussed at parent-teacher conferences
• Annual notification of the right to request teacher qualification information
• At least 1% of Title I funds reserved for family engagement activities

Manchester's refugee community communication

Manchester's refugee resettlement has been managed through organizations including the International Institute of New England and CASE (Catholic Charities NH). These organizations provide initial services to newly arrived families and have established relationships that schools can build on.

For Bhutanese-Nepali families, who are now in their second and third decade in Manchester, many adults speak English and can navigate the school system with some support. But newly arrived families, and families from more recent refugee populations like Afghans and Congolese, may need more intensive support.

Community liaisons from specific ethnic communities are the most effective communication bridge. A Bhutanese-Nepali staff member or volunteer at the school changes what is possible for communication with that community. The same applies to Congolese, Somali, and Afghan communities.

Opioid crisis and kinship caregiving

New Hampshire's opioid epidemic has had visible effects in Manchester and in northern communities like Berlin and Claremont. Schools in these areas serve students who are living with grandparents, aunts and uncles, or in foster care because parents are dealing with substance use disorder. Communication systems that identify who is actually responsible for the child, and that make it easy to update that information, serve these families better.

Grandparents who are primary caregivers for school-age children often have different technology comfort levels than younger parents. Making sure newsletters are accessible in print as well as digital form, and that phone communication is available alongside email, ensures these caregivers stay informed.

Rural Coos County schools

Berlin, NH, is the largest city in Coos County and the economic center of a region that has been declining since the paper mill closures of the 2000s. Schools there serve a community dealing with population loss, economic stress, and limited services. Broadband access in rural Coos County is improving but still limited in some areas. Community organizations and local churches remain important communication partners.

School-Parent Compact writing for diverse New Hampshire families

For Manchester's multilingual community, having the compact in English, Nepali, French (for Congolese families), and Spanish covers a large share of the school population. For newly arrived refugee families with limited literacy, oral explanation by a community liaison is more effective than handing over a written compact. Specific school commitments in plain language make the compact useful.

Consistent newsletters for New Hampshire Title I schools

A consistent multilingual newsletter is the foundation of ongoing family communication for New Hampshire's diverse Title I schools. Schools using Daystage can manage multiple language sections in a single newsletter and send it inline in email, without requiring families to click through to a separate link. For Manchester's extraordinary linguistic diversity, combining the digital newsletter with community liaison outreach in specific language communities ensures all families are reached.