CLAREMONT — Even as a kid, Amber Hammond knew she wanted to be a teacher, but not at just any school.
As a student at Bluff Elementary in Claremont, she had been inspired by her teachers’ enthusiasm for learning and their belief in their students.
Third-grade teacher Amber Hammond, center, looks over her new classroom at Maple Avenue Elementary School on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Helping her set the room up is her co-teacher Cindy Couitt, right, and paraprofessional Madison Aldrich, left. Hammond’s father Kevin Duford also helped with the move. The three women had been staff at Bluff Elementary School until it was closed mid school year by the Claremont School District. Teachers and staff were given four days to pack everything at Bluff and set classrooms up at Maple.
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“I pictured myself growing up and teaching at Bluff,” Hammond, 26, said in a recent interview.
After graduating from Keene State College with a degree in elementary education in 2021, Hammond, a third grade teacher, returned to her old school with the hope of continuing her educators’ legacy. Upon her arrival, she was greeted by a community of families and staff who also shared the same affinity for Bluff.
But that community was recently broken apart after the Claremont School Board voted in September to close Bluff and move teachers and students to the city’s two other elementary schools amid staffing troubles in the district driven by an ongoing financial crisis.
Given two days to pack up her entire classroom, third-grade teacher Amber Hammond hugs her husband Ricky Hammond on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Helping is Kevin Duford, Amber Hammond’s father. Both Amber and her father were students at the school where she has been a teacher for five years. Ricky Hammond and Duford each took half a day off from work to help with the move. Teachers were told the school district would only move items owned by the district, anything purchased by staff would need to be moved by staff. Hammond is in her eighth month of pregnancy.
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A few weeks ago, after learning of the impending move, Bluff faculty and former staff gathered together in front of their building for a group photo to commemorate their time together.
“Many of us are grieving…because we’ve been there for so long,” said Tammy Yates, who has taught at Bluff since 2002 and is the president of Sugar River Education Association, the district’s teachers union.
Teachers and staff gather at Bluff Elementary School on Saturday, Oct.4, 2025, for a group photo. Retired teacher Zina Jones, of Newport, N.H., left, Debbie Bates, of Newport, Bluff third-grade teacher Amber Hammond, and second-grade teacher Tammy Yates talk after the photo. Hammond was in her fifth year of teaching at the school. She attended the school as a child, having both Jones and Bates as teachers. Bluff Elementary School has been closed by the Claremont School District after the school year began, with students being moved to other schools in the city.
(Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)
Teachers spent a week of packing up their classrooms and moving into unused spaces in Claremont’s remaining elementaries — Disnard Elementary School and Maple Avenue Elementary School. Classes resumed on Oct. 14.
Almost 90 Bluff students as well as 24 staff members migrated to Maple Avenue, according to Maple Avenue Principal Mark Blount, while roughly 50 students moved to Disnard.
Third-grade teacher Amber Hammond attended Bluff Elementary as a student and has now been teaching at the school for five years. Due to a deficit in the school budget, the school will close and move its students to other buildings in the district. On Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H., after a school assembly and picnic, Hammond is in the classroom reading to her students with Avery Smolnik, left, and Jay Rodreguez heading back to their desks and Leyls Bartolo sitting.
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Teachers have been left to process the shuttering of their old school and adjust to life at Maple Avenue and Disnard, all while the future remains tinged with uncertainty in light of the district’s financial crisis.
Retired teacher Zina Jones, of Newport, N.H., helps pack Amber Hammond’s third-grade classroom on the last day of classes at the school on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Jones was a teacher at Bluff and other schools in Claremont for 36 years, retiring last year.
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“It was rushed. It was stressful. It was a lot of tears. People were not ready,” Yates said.
A blow to morale
To mitigate the fallout of a $5 million deficit due to cash flow issues and mismanagement, the SAU 6 School Board announced in August that it would not be ratifying the contracts of 19 new hires, including teachers and paraprofessionals. At least 14 teachers across the district have since resigned, Yates said.
Amid the staff shortage, Bluff Principal Dale Chenette wrote in a message to staff last month that the school could no longer meet its legal obligation to offer special education services. He proposed to close the school, which the School Board voted to do at its Sept. 17 meeting.
At the meeting, principals presented an alternate plan to keep Bluff open for the remainder of the year, which the Board rejected.
Bluff Elementary School third-grader Dalton Lord waits while students gather for a group photo and the ringing of the old school bell on the last day of classes on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. All students at the school have been moved to other buildings in the Claremont School District due to a deficit in the school budget.
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“That just dropped the morale of teachers,” Yates said. “It was that last hope.”
For many teachers, one of the most stressful parts of the switch from Bluff to the new schools was the move itself. After the closing of Bluff was announced, the district gave teachers the week before Columbus Day to move their things into their new classrooms.
The window was initially shorter, just a couple days, but the teachers union pushed to have the entire week to move, Yates said.
During a school gathering Bluff Elementary School, first-grade teacher Alicia Simino hands out the “Bluff Paws Award” to principal Dale Chenette and Student Service Coordinator Sandy Wilson, left, on the last day of school at Bluff on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. The Claremont School District is consolidating schools due to a budget deficit.
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On top of the short time frame, Facility Director Steven Holt informed teachers that anything they had purchased for their classroom they would have to move on their own, without the help of school facilities staff.
“We’re there to move district property, not personal possessions,” Holt said in an interview. Holt wasn’t aware of Bluff teachers who needed special accommodations during the move, he said.
Retired teacher Debbie Bates, of Newport, N.H. helps to pack up Amber Hammond’s third-grade classroom on the last day of school at Bluff Elementary School on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Bates was a teacher in Claremont for 40 years, most of those years at Bluff.
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The decision posed a particular challenge for Hammond, who is eight months pregnant, and who, over time, has purchased a number of large items for her classroom such as bookshelves, a cart and cabinets.
Her colleague, Cindy Couitt, who is set to have shoulder surgery next week, also struggled with the move.
In her eighth month of pregnancy, third-grade teacher Amber Hammond wheels a load from her former classroom at Bluff Elementary School to Maple Avenue Elementary School on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. The Claremont School District closed Bluff Elementary where Hammond has taught for five years, consolidating students into two other schools in the city. Teachers at Bluff were told the district would only move what was district property, leaving teachers and staff to move anything they may have bought for their classrooms themselves.
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The district’s interim Superintendent Kerry Kennedy neglected to make any accommodations for them after she voiced her concerns in a September meeting, Hammond said.
Kennedy did not provide a response by deadline on Friday.
The message Couitt took from the district was “just fend for yourselves,” she said.
Luckily, teachers at Disnard and Maple Avenue as well as Stevens High School students and community members stepped up to help their colleagues move into their new classrooms, Yates said.
Third-grade teacher Amber Hammond hugs Bluff Elementary School fourth-grader Hadleigh Hunt on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Hammond had Hunt as a student the previous year. It was the last day for classes at Bluff.
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“But still, it was a difficult transition,” she added.
Staffing remains precarious
Even after moving in, it’s taken time for Bluff teachers to adjust to the new rhythms of a bigger building and a brand-new schedule.
Bluff’s small student population of about 140 made it easy for teachers to collaborate and be flexible with their curriculum, Yates said. Meanwhile, at Maple Avenue, where the student population is about 330 after the transition, much of that flexibility has been lost.
Paraprofessional Madison Aldrich, left, and third-grade teacher Amber Hammond put their new classroom together at Maple Avenue Elementary School in Claremont, N.H., on Friday, Oct, 10, 2025. Teachers and staff were given four days to pack their classrooms at Bluff Elementary School and reassemble them at Maple after Bluff was closed mid-year.
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Days at Maple Avenue also are structured completely differently than at Bluff, Couitt and Hammond said, yet no one from the school walked them through what their schedule would look like in advance of the first day.
Blount, the principal, said all teachers received a copy of the school schedule and campus map before the start of classes.
On the first day of classes, third-grade co-teacher Cindy Couitt catches one of her students, Leo Garrow, just as he walks past his new classroom at Maple Avenue Elementary School in Claremont, N.H., on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. Both had been at Bluff Elementary School — the Claremont School District closed Bluff due to a budget deficit.
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“I guess it’s up to the individual teachers to look at those pieces,” he said in an interview.
Initially, Couitt and Hammond were supposed to share a class, with Couitt teaching solo for two months while her colleague is on maternity leave, which is scheduled to begin after Thanksgiving break.
However, Couitt has been assigned to a different third-grade class so that another teacher can fill in for a special educator who recently resigned.
“My stress levels are through the roof,” Couitt said.
On the first day of classes at Maple Avenue Elementary School, third-grade teacher Amber Hammond walks her students through their day at the school on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Co-teaching with her is Cindy Couitt, speaking to a student on the left. Both had been at Bluff Elementary School, having their two third-grade classrooms combined into one.
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She worries about how the students she’s leaving behind will fare now that they have to adjust to yet another change to their routine.
As of Friday, the school has found a substitute to teach Hammond’s class while she’s on leave, Blount said.
Despite the chaos behind the scenes, teachers are doing their best “to make it look like we’re not stressed” in front of students, Hammond said.
On the first day of school, retired Bluff Elementary teacher Debbie Bates purchased “support stuffies” for students after making the move to a new school on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Each student was also given a t-shirt supplied by the Bluff School PTO.
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“Personally, I’m trying to not let this bother me for the sake of my baby,” she added.
For the first day of school at Maple Avenue, Hammond set out a stuffed animal at each student’s seat to offer some comfort during the transition. The stuffies were donated by Debbie Bates, a retired Bluff teacher who taught Hammond when she was in second grade.
Bates was one of the teachers who inspired Hammond to pursue a career in education.
“She made everything about learning so fun,” Hammond said.
Easing the transition
While teachers have voiced strong concerns about the shuttering of Bluff, parents and kids seem less rattled by the move.
“The transition seems to be going smoothly,” said Brittny Wadsworth, whose son Declan McNamara, is a student in Hammond’s class.
Wadsworth is glad the group could stick together at their new school: “(Declan) was able to stay with his friends, and he loves his teacher,” she said.
Third-grade teacher Cindy Couitt leads her class to the art room on the first day of classes at Maple Avenue Elementary School on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Couitt’s class has been combined with another third-grade class, both from Bluff Elementary School, following a large budget deficit.
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Declan’s also made new friends playing football at Maple Avenue, though misses his previous gym teacher, who moved to Disnard, because “she was a very fun P.E. teacher,” he said while waiting for his mom to pick up from school on Tuesday.
Elementary student Keren Gómez prefers Maple Avenue to Bluff because “the slides are much better, and there are more swings,” although there are some play structures from her old school that Maple Avenue lacks.
Yetzenia Waly, a “Maple mom” to a fifth grader, has been encouraging her son to “be a leader” for others now that there are new kids on campus.
“There’s no Maple and no Bluff, there’s just school,” she said at pick-up earlier this week.
Right now, it’s too soon to tell if Bluff students will remain at Disnard and Maple Avenue next year, Kennedy said.
Third-grade student Layla Roberts listens during class on the first day at Maple Avenue Elementary School on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Claremont, N.H. Roberts and her classmates had been attending Bluff Elementary School, but due to a budget deficit the school has been closed and students were consolidated into two other Claremont schools.
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But the stress of this year has taken a toll on teachers. With all the uncertainty in the air, Yates expects there will be a “mass exodus” from the district once the school year is up.
“People want stability, and they are able to get that at other districts,” she said.
Even though Hammond is living her childhood dream of teaching in Claremont, she questions whether she can remain in a district with such financial uncertainty. As the primary insurance holder in her family and a soon-to-be parent, she needs “a sense of stability,” she said.
Third-grade co-teachers Cindy Couitt, left, and Amber Hammond discuss the rest of their day while their students are in art class at the Maple Avenue Elementary School in Claremont, N.H., on Oct. 14, 2025. It is the first day for students at the new school after their school Bluff Elementary was closed by the Claremont School District.
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Yates, meanwhile, is prepared to stick it out for now. “I feel committed to the students,” she said. “I just feel that it is my job as an educator to stand with them and make it through the year and educate them as well as I can and we’ll see what happens next year.”
Not just that, but she’s invested in the teachers she represents. “I love fighting for their rights,” she said. “I feel so privileged to be their president… and speak on their behalf.”
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