smyth road students pose with mayor Ruais prior to leading the pledge of allegiance

Here’s your recap of the Monday, March 24, Board of School Committee meeting. You can find the agenda for the meeting here: https://5il.co/3b2xv. 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.

Smyth Road Elementary School students lead Pledge of Allegiance

Monday night’s meeting kicked off with students from Smyth Road Elementary School leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Prior to the meeting, students Maria, Evan, Olby and McKinley had a chance to meet Mayor Ruais and check out his office, too.

The students did a great job. As always, we are thankful to Mayor Ruais as well as Board Members Potter and Parr for introducing the students and to Smyth Road Principal Jenn Briggs and Assistant Principal Charlene Kurtz for coordinating.

Recognitions

rich Otis receives a certificate in honor of being named co-coach of the year

We had lots of members of our district community to recognize Monday night. First up was West boys basketball coach Rich Otis, who was named the Division II co-coach of the year. Coach Otis has led the Blue Knights to the playoffs in both his seasons as head coach.

courtney menswar receives a certificate in honor of being named school counselor of the yearNext up was McLaughlin 7th Grade counselor Courtney Menswar, who was named the 2025 School Counselor of the Year! Ms. Menswar is in her fourth year at McLaughlin and her 14th year in the district. You can read more about Ms. Menswar’s award here: https://www.mansd.org/article/2074369.

group photo of scholastic art awards winners with teachers at the board of school committee meeting

Our third recognition was actually 47 more recognitions - that’s the number of students who received awards in the 2025 Scholastic Art Awards competition. You can find a full list of the students recognized in the agenda or in this news post: https://www.mansd.org/article/2080816. You can find photos of all of the students in attendance in this album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1eLti9wF4VAkx41q6.

Congratulations to all!

Consent agenda

There are no presentations tonight nor are there action agenda items, so we are on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda tonight includes items from the following committees: Policy, Teaching and Learning and Finance and Facilities. You can find all of the information in the agenda packet: https://5il.co/3b2xv. All items were approved.

Communications and adjournment

In superintendent’s communications, district leaders had several updates:

  1. Registration is open for 2025-26: https://mansd.org/o/msd/page/register-a-student

  2. Spring Into Summer event held this weekend - you can find a full guide of opportunities here: https://manchesterproud.org/summer-opportunity-portfolio-resource-guide-2025/

  3. Community Sports Night is tomorrow from 6:30-7:30 pm at Memorial - find athletics opportunities AND help us celebrate graduating student athletes competing at the collegiate level

  4. St. Patrick's Day parade is this weekend and our marching bands are taking part - be there!

  5. Finally, families interested in learning more about the upcoming projects at Hillside and McLaughlin with info sessions set for 4/8 at 6 pm at McLaughlin and 4/9 at 6 pm at Hillside. The district will publish more information on these sessions this week.

With communications complete, the meeting moved into non-public session and was later adjourned -- there are no items that need votes stemming from non-public. The next meeting of the Board of School Committee will be in two weeks, on Monday, April 14.