MANCHESTER, N.H. – This summer, Manchester parents will be able to request a transfer for their students currently enrolled in the Manchester School District into another Manchester School District school.
This month, the Manchester Board of School Committee approved a new policy allowing these “intra-district” transfers, setting a deadline for transfer requests at July 1st of each year. Parents requesting these transfers are required to be notified no later than August 1 and parents are responsible for transportation costs to the new school.
The change was necessary following the passage of legislation at the state level last year requiring school districts to allow these intra-district transfers. Previously, parents could request to transfer their student into another school district or another school within the district where a “manifest educational hardship” existed, or a situation where documentation is provided that staying within a school would cause severe harm to the student’s educational, mental or physical well-being.
Within the new policy, the Superintendent of the Manchester School District can deny a request for an intra-district transfer based on student-to-teacher ratios within classrooms within the school requested by the parent. That ratio also includes students that are expected to be enrolled in that school after the school year begins based on historical data trends.
Initially within the proposed policy, that number of “expected students” was capped at two, but it was amended to a number within the discretion of the superintendent following an amendment by Ward 2 Board of School Committee member Sean Parr.
Several members of the Board of School Committee expressed frustration with the need for the policy given that it would make class enrollment procedures much more complex for district administrative staff.
Board of School Committee Vice Chair Jim O’Connell said that the law mandating the policy was a “solution in search of a problem” and made by people who knew nothing about public schools. He also added his view that transportation costs will rise due to unexpected circumstances where more parents move into a school’s area and they want their children to attend that school, but there is no more room and the school district would be obligated to transport that student to another school.
A full copy of the now approved policy can be found below, excluding wording regarding the amendment made by Parr.
