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  • Dondero School Named a 2023 National Blue Ribbon Sch...

    Dondero School Recognized as One of the Nation’s Best Mary C. Dondero Elementary One of Three NH Schools Selected as National Blue Ribbon Award Winners On Tuesday, Mary C. Dondero Elementary was announced as one of three New Hampshire schools to receive the prestigious recognition of 2023 National Blue Ribbon School . This year, the U.S. Department of Education recognized 353 schools nationwide for their overall academic performance. Dondero, along with Rye Elementary School, and Riddle Brook School in Bedford, was selected to the program for being an "exemplary high-performing school."  “The honorees for our 2023 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award have set a national example for what it means to Raise the Bar in education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a press release. “The leaders, educators, and staff at our National Blue Ribbon Schools continually inspire me with their dedication to fostering academic excellence and building positive school cultures that support students of all backgrounds to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.”  “Dondero is honored to be designated as a 2023 National Blue Ribbon School as it acknowledges the faculty's commitment to the academic, social, and emotional growth of all learners," said Principal Kate Callahan. “The  inner workings of our school do not exist without support from parents/guardians and the greater Portsmouth community. As Dondero's principal, I am not only humbled by this recognition but also proud to be a parent of a student who attends an amazing school.” “This award is a great testament to the collaborative work being done by the staff, students, and parents of the Dondero School community. This work is being skillfully led by an engaged principal who lives just blocks away and cares deeply about the students as a whole. The people of Portsmouth should rejoice in knowing the strengths of their public schools,” said Portsmouth Schools Superintendent Dr. Zach McLaughlin. “We are so proud of our staff, students, and families in our school district. This special honor for Dondero is a true reflection of the many talents of the collaborative group of our teachers, administrators, and support staff,” commented School Board Chair Nancy Clayburgh. “We also are very grateful to the community for the support we have received for our schools throughout the years.” In November, the US Department of Education will hold an award ceremony for the winners in Washington, D.C.

    Tuesday, Sep 19 2023

  • Only 4 Days Remain to Fill Out Our Survey on the Fut...

    Help guide the future of Portsmouth Schools!  Fill out our survey between now and May 24th:   https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PortsmouthPOG Portsmouth School Department is deep into the process of discussing the future of our schools with our community and stakeholders. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, a parent, a caregiver, a staff member, an alumnus, a business owner, or a community member. We want to hear from you on several big questions:  What do you want the schools to do?  What are we doing well?  What could we do better?  Please take 10 minutes to fill out the following anonymous survey.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PortsmouthPOG   All this feedback and the information gathered at our focus groups will help inform our "Portrait of a Graduate" and district strategic planning. Thanks for helping us, and please be sure to submit your responses by May 24th.

    Sunday, May 21 2023

  • Survey: Help Us Determine the Future of Portsmouth S...

    Help guide the future of Portsmouth Schools!  Fill out our survey between now and May 24th:   https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PortsmouthPOG Portsmouth School Department is deep into the process of discussing the future of our schools with our community and stakeholders. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, a parent, a caregiver, a staff member, an alumnus, a business owner, or a community member. We want to hear from you on several big questions:  What do you want the schools to do?  What are we doing well?  What could we do better?  Please take 10 minutes to fill out the following anonymous survey.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PortsmouthPOG   All this feedback will help inform our "Portrait of a Graduate" and district strategic planning. Thanks for helping us, and please be sure to submit your responses by May 24th.

    Thursday, May 18 2023

  • District Update: Good End to a Tough Week

    Please note: This video has closed captions available. This video was recorded on Friday, 4/14. A transcript of the video is available below and will be automatically translated to secondary languages within ParentSquare for families that have indicated a language request. Transcript begins here: Hey, good afternoon, Portsmouth School Department. I don't want to take much of your time. I know it's an early evening here on a Friday and I want everybody to head out and have a great and relaxing weekend, but I would be remiss if I didn't take just a minute or two to send out some "thank-you"s. We all know the Wednesday into Thursday was really challenging and stressful for a lot of folks, but I am unbelievably appreciative of a whole bunch of people who have stepped up to that challenge during that period of time.  The Portsmouth Police Department---can't say enough about the talent and the level of collaboration that is present in our police department. Very lucky to have them, and as a school district and as a school leader, I feel really blessed to have them right down the hallway. Parents---amazing support from parents over the last several days. In situations like this that can be really scary where we can't always give you tons and tons of information, it's really easy in the midst of fear for people to lash out and not be supportive. Not at all what happened. You collectively were amazing in terms of giving us space to do our job. And then if anything, then reaching out and saying, "hey, what can I do to help?" Students---hey, it was great today to see you getting back up on the bike basically and getting back to it. And that was particularly true at the high school where I get to start my day today. And that gets me last to staff. Staff---I can't be more proud of the work that you did that you did today. This was tough. It's hard to come in a situation like this and I thought you really rose to the challenge. And I know when I started today, I started at the high school, kind of made my way across the district, in all those locations, people were just doing amazing work. And it's particularly true at the high school where it's particularly challenging because of the nature of the event. The high school had to do some unique work to be ready for today. So to all district staff, thanks for your professionalism and your kind of deep sense of duty, purpose, and humanity towards the students of Portsmouth.  So, all right, I will leave you all alone and I hope you have a wonderful weekend, a relaxing weekend, and hug those people you love and we'll look forward to getting back at it on Monday. Take care.

    Friday, Apr 14 2023

  • Update: Suspect Now in Custody and Schools to Re-Ope...

    Good afternoon Portsmouth School Department families, students, and staff, This is Dr. McLaughlin, the Superintendent of Schools. I am pleased to forward the following update from the Portsmouth Police Department. With the individual in custody, we plan to re-open our schools tomorrow. Our school teams have been working throughout the day to be prepared for a thoughtful return of our school community. In addition to our staff, we will have a morning police presence and assistance from New Hampshire's Mobile Crisis Response Team. We look forward to welcoming our students back to our buildings and returning to the process of supporting and educating them. I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to the Portsmouth Police Department. Their skill and tenaciousness helped resolve the issue and put us in a position to re-open our schools. Their ongoing collaboration can not be overvalued. Thank you to our families, students, and staff for your ongoing patience and support. These are challenging moments, but they are also opportunities to show the strength, grit, and unity of the greater Portsmouth community. We will see you tomorrow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PORTSMOUTH POLICE DEPARTMENT RELEASE April 13, 2023: Portsmouth Police secured an Arrest Warrant for Kyle Hendrickson for the charge of Criminal Threatening with a firearm, a Class B Felony. The investigation into his whereabouts lead us to a residence in Portland, Maine. In collaboration with Portland, ME Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Hendrickson was taken into custody just before 2 P.M. on today’s date. Hendrickson will be held as a Fugitive from Justice until he can be brought to New Hampshire to answer to this charge.  The impact of closing schools today was not taken lightly, but this allowed the police department to focus on the investigation to identify and locate the suspect. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and patience as we worked to keep the school community safe.  We have been in continuous communication with the Portsmouth School Administration, and we are both in agreement that the school community is safe to return back to  school in Portsmouth tomorrow.  The school will be sending out a communication soon and preparing to welcome students and staff back to school.   For press inquiries please contact Capt. Dave Keaveny at (603) 610.7511.   Anonymous tips can be made through Seacoast Crime Stoppers by calling (603) 431-1199, online at  www.seacoastcrimestoppers.com  and through the “P3” phone app available as a free download.  Rewards of up to $1,000.00 may be paid for help solving cases if the information leads to an arrest or indictment of a suspect(s).

    Thursday, Apr 13 2023

  • Police Update on Threat

    Good morning Portsmouth School Department families, students, and staff, The Portsmouth Police Department has issued the following update via press release. As we move through the day and get additional information, we will continue to update the school community. At the moment, we have made no decision regarding the status of schools for tomorrow. The School Department and Police Department continue to actively and closely collaborate during this situation. As I said last night, your support is greatly appreciated. Zach McLaughlin, Superintendent _____________________________________________________________ April 13th, 2023 Reference: Criminal Threatening Portsmouth High School On April 12th, 2023, at approximately 6 P.M., the Portsmouth Police Department received a tip regarding a concerning video of a threat being made of a shooting that was going to occur at the Portsmouth High School. The video depicted a male in a vehicle in front of Portsmouth High School with a gun. The message on the video said, “Imma gonna shoot up the school”. The department contacted the Superintendent of Schools and notified him of the threat. A mutually agreed decision was made to cancel school today as a proactive approach to the safety of our school community while we continued our investigation. Through our investigation, we were able to identify the suspect in the video as Kyle Hendrickson age 25. Hendrickson is known to frequent the seacoast area and southern Maine. Criminal charges are forthcoming. The police department is working collaboratively with our federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to conclude our investigation.

    Thursday, Apr 13 2023

  • Portsmouth Schools Closed Tomorrow Due to Threat

    Good evening Portsmouth School Department families, students, and staff, This is Zach McLaughlin, the Superintendent of Schools. I apologize for the late timing of my call, but I have an important message that I felt could not wait until the morning. This evening the Portsmouth Police Department notified me of a threat to commit a school shooting at Portsmouth High School via a social media platform. They received a video of someone saying they would shoot up the school. The police department is following up on leads. As we are not currently in a position to feel that the threat is yet resolved, we need to make a decision regarding tomorrow’s school day. Out of an abundance of caution and a commitment to the safety of our school community, all Portsmouth Schools will be closed tomorrow, April 13th.  As the situation develops, I will be sure to provide you with updates as I am able. Finally, I just want to acknowledge the emotions of a moment like this. It can be laced with fear, anger, and sadness. Amid this challenging time, we appreciate your support as we do our best to keep our students and staff safe. Thank you, and good night.      

    Thursday, Apr 13 2023

  • District Update: Belonging & New 2023-24 School Cale...

          Please note: This video has closed captions available. This video was recorded on Sunday, 4/9. The new school calendar mentioned in the video can be accessed here:  PSD 2023-24 School Calendar A transcript of the video is available below and will be automatically translated to secondary languages within ParentSquare for families that have indicated a language request. Transcript begins here: Happy Sunday Portsmouth School Department. Hey, as we start off today's message I just want to send out a couple of different greetings for folks. And the first is Ramadan Mubarak and Chag Pesach Sameach, and Happy Easter. And I apologize if my pronunciations lousy. I'm here up in Standish, Maine, my hometown. Here with my extended family, my parents and my kids and wife having a bit of an Easter celebration. And it's a great reminder of the fact that we're in the business in the school department of helping kids learn and grow and how important our family traditions are, and also how we want to make sure that everybody in our community always feels a sense of belonging in our schools and in our community. So, I say that to let you know too, that we've just posted the school calendar for next year. So it gives people an opportunity to start planning for when school will start and when we're going to have vacations and all that good type of stuff. In addition, something that we did was a little bit different this year but I think is a really appropriate step for the school department. I think you may have heard during the 400th celebration as we are celebrating the 400th year of Portsmouth, some folks in the community, I know I've heard the Mayor say this, talk about that Portsmouth is "The City of the Open Door," the place that is welcoming to all. So on the back of our calendar, I think we've done something that is reflective of that and we added major holidays from most of the major traditions and religions from around the world. Now this time around this year, we didn't add a bunch of Jewish or Islamic holidays or other traditions to the calendar that we have off necessarily, but we did put it on the back of the calendar so that as we try to, as a school department, plan around events there we're at least cognizant of all the different traditions that are already present inside of Portsmouth School Department with our families, and that we're also welcoming to families who might be coming to us in the future. So you'll see it on the back of the PDF and I'll tell you next year we won't be perfect. There will be times where we still will have some type of school event that might run opposite a major holiday from one of these traditions, and we will apologize for that in advance. But we're going to make a little bit more of an effort to make sure that it is something that we think about and that we value all of the different things that you celebrate. Because you all belong here, you all belong as part of our school district and our community. So I'll sign off for today. I'll have a link down below to get you to the calendar so you have it for next year and you're all set. ( PSD 2023-24 School Calendar ) And I wish the very best to everyone in the school community and whatever your faith and creed that you're having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the nice spring weather that we're having. So take care.

    Monday, Apr 10 2023

  • Possible Transportation Delays

    Good afternoon Portsmouth School Department students, families, and staff, I want to let you know that there may be some transportation delays this afternoon. Earlier this afternoon, there was a fire on a telephone pole in the vicinity of the Dinnerhorn Restaurant. That fire led to us losing power for a few minutes at Dondero and Portsmouth High School. Currently, crews are working on the pole, but traffic on Lafayette Road has been diverted. As a result, there’s a high likelihood of some delays in busing this afternoon. We will give you an update if that changes. As always, thanks for your support and partnership. [Tuesday, Apr 4 at 3:57 PM] Update on the Lafayette Road Closure. The closure continues and has expanded. At the moment, Northbound traffic on Route One is being diverted at Mirona Rd near McDonald's. Southbound traffic is being diverted at the intersection of Route One and Lafayette near Bowl-O-Rama. We don't have a current estimate of when the road will be reopened. [Tuesday, Apr 4 at 6:19 PM] Last school update on this tonight. Northbound appears to have opened up, Southbound remains closed. We appreciate everybody being patient and understanding this afternoon. Have a great night.

    Tuesday, Apr 04 2023

  • Verifying End of School Dates for Students and Staff

    Good afternoon students, families, and staff of the Portsmouth School Department, As we (hopefully) move away from wintry weather, I feel safe to announce the last days of school for students and staff. Even with the loss of two days due to cancellation, we can still maintain our originally scheduled last days per our calendar. Therefore, the final day for students will be Thursday, June 15th. The final day for school-year staff will be Friday, June 16th. In addition, please note that the district will maintain the tradition of making the final student day a half-day. 

    Tuesday, Mar 21 2023