Here’s your recap of the Tuesday, November 12, Board of School Committee meeting. You can find the agenda for the meeting here: https://5il.co/30p1k. With no committee meetings since the last regular board meeting, Tuesday’s agenda was light and the meeting was brief. 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.
West NJROTC students lead Pledge of Allegiance
In a slight departure from the norm, high school students joined us to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The students are members of the West High School NJROTC program, fittingly joining us the day after participating in the Veterans Day Parade.
Prior to the meeting, the students had an opportunity to meet Mayor Jay Ruais and check out his office, too. Thank you to the students for joining us and to Senior Naval Science Instructor Stacey Lancaster for helping to coordinate. Thank you, as well, to board members Liz O'Neil (Ward 11) and Carlos Gonzalez (Ward 12) for introducing the students before the Pledge.
Recognition of West business teacher
There was one recognition in Tuesday’s meeting – West High School business teacher Tracey Muehling for earning a statewide award.
Mrs. Muehling received the NH Business Educators Association Achievement Award as the business educator of the year. She received the award at the association’s annual conference last month, and will also be recognized at the Edies.
You can read more about the award here: https://www.mansd.org/article/1848360.
Action and consent agendas
There were no presentations or public comment at this meeting, so the board moved right into the action and consent agendas. The only item on the action agenda, indemnification contract language for the Challenge program, was approved on a voice vote. The only item in the consent agenda was the minutes from the prior meeting; that was also approved.
Superintendent’s communications
Moving quickly along, Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel gave a shout-out to the football teams from West and Memorial, both of which competed in playoff games last Friday. While West fell to powerhouse Pelham, Memorial topped Winnacunnett to move on to the next round. As the superintendent noted, the playoff appearances were the first in a generation (2007 was West’s last playoff appearance, 2003 was Memorial’s last), and reflected the true resurgence of the programs. The teams are currently slated to face off against each other on Thanksgiving day, though that could change if Memorial continues its playoff run.
The superintendent also thanked the high school bands and West NJROTC for taking part in the Veterans Day Parade on Monday. She noted also that the bands will be marching down Elm Street again in a few short weeks for the Manchester Holiday Parade.
Adjournment
With no new business to discuss, the meeting went into non-public session before later adjourning.
The next full meeting of the board is set for November 25.