MANCHESTER SCHOOL DISTRICT

Here’s your recap of the Monday, August 26, Board of School Committee meeting.  The agenda for the meeting is here: https://5il.co/2uhyx. Video from the meeting will be posted online by Manchester Public Television. As a reminder, we provide live updates from full board meetings at https://x.com/mansd_nh. 

Monday’s meeting was the last before the start of school on September 4, so the agenda was fairly heavy. This recap proceeds in chronological order, so you'll need to scroll down to find information on voting items from the action and consent agendas. Please note: we do not include public comment in our recaps.

With schools still on vacation, there were no students leading the Pledge of Allegiance (at-large member Peter Argeropolous stepped in to do the honors). 

Recognitions

First up for recognition at Monday’s meeting was Tracy Mancuso, who retired recently after 41 years as the superintendent’s administrative assistant. In her four decades in the district, Ms. Mancuso served 10 superintendents and numerous interim superintendents. While her experience and institutional knowledge will be sorely missed, we wish Ms. Mancuso well in retirement. 

Next up for recognition are Manchester School District teachers Chelsea Viera, of Highland-Goffe’s Falls Elementary, and Nicole Gammella, of the Middle School at Parkside, both of whom were named semi-finalists for NH Teacher of the Year. After a presentation in Concord last month, Viera will be moving on to the final four candidates for the award. We are so proud of all of our district staff, and we will be cheering Viera on as she moves forward. 

Our final recognition, of Morgan and Tara Rutman, also included a proclamation from Mayor Ruais. For the last few years, the Rutmans have provided financial backing to allow Manchester School District high schoolers to take part in the Shoals Marine Lab program on Appledore Island (part of the Isles of Shoals). Students who took part in the program this year and Memorial teacher Cassie Thomas, who has attended all three years with students, were at the meeting to celebrate the Rutmans and also offered a presentation on their experience. More on that below. 

Presentations

High school students who participated in the Shoals Marine Lab program are now presenting about their experience with teacher Cassie Thomas, of Memorial. You can find the slides starting on Page 3 of the agenda packet: https://5il.co/2uhyx.

Next up in presentations, the superintendent and district leadership team are presenting goals for the upcoming school year. You can find slides from the presentation starting on Page 26 of the agenda packet, and background materials starting on Page 50.

Action agenda

There is one item on the action agenda – the City Year contract. The contract is approved for the new year: Corps members will be located at 5 schools: Northwest, Parker-Varney, Bakersville, McDonough and Parkside. You can find the contract starting on Page 103 of the agenda.

Consent agenda

Moving on to the consent agenda, three items are pulled for discussion: updates to Title IX procedures, revision to attendance policy, and replacement of the Livingston Park track. Discussion is focused on the attendance policy. The rest of the items are approved.