The Bulletin week in review

Good morning, New Hampshire. As we move into late summer, here’s a look back at the past week of Bulletin coverage and commentary. Thank you for reading, and have a great remainder of the weekend. — Dana

By Molly Rains

At first glance, the upgrades that Tom Bassett and his Hampton neighbors on Gentian Road, Meadow Pond Road, and nearby streets spent more than two decades advocating for don’t look like much. A layer of new asphalt on the road hints at the network of new drainage pipes underneath, while an existing pump station in the heart of the neighborhood has been repurposed. Tucked behind Bassett’s home, at the edge of the marsh, a bobber swings at an automated water-level reading station. Yet these changes, funded with a mixture of local, state, and federal dollars totaling about $4.3 million, have had a big impact on the neighborhood.

By Maya Mitchell

Granite Steps for Quality is a state-run, nationally recognized, continuous quality improvement program available to New Hampshire’s childcare providers. It focuses on elevating a program, its teachers, and its classrooms through training, leadership and professional development, coaching, and assessments. Directors whose childcare programs are in GSQ say they see improvements through that involvement. Their teachers learn skills for working with children with different needs, and their classrooms become more catered to what is best for child development. But they also say the program’s problems are many — and mounting.

By Ethan DeWitt

Last summer, lawmakers banned cellphone use in schools from the beginning to the end of the class day. This summer, educators are working to study the next frontier of distraction: laptops, tablets, and other screens. The New Hampshire Department of Education has launched a “Screen Time Task Force,” a 32-member panel that will spend the next month exploring technology in education. The goal is to craft recommendations to help schools and teachers better manage laptop and other screen use.