MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester Central High School students gathered at the Dec. 8, 2025 Board of School Committee meeting to voice their frustration with a lack of cleanliness in their high school’s bathrooms.
The students were members of the Granite State Organizing Project’s Young Organizers United group, seeking to provide their insight as well as that of their peers regarding the bathroom concerns. Within their testimony, they indicated that they saw bathrooms with broken doors and locks, dirty ceilings, frequent appearances of insects and other things that made them and other students feel uncomfortable using the bathrooms.
Mackenzie Verdiner, a coordinator for Young Organizers United, said that the group has made this issue a part of a project called “Better Spaces, Brighter Futures” since April of 2024. Verdiner noted to the board that she and members of the group seek to continue dialogue with the board to help solve the problem.
“I really hope we can find a solution to this issue together as a community. I know this is a really hard issue and it’s hard to figure out who has the power to fix it, but we’re going to keep on coming and we’re going to keep on talking about it until something gets done about it,” she said.
Following public comment, Manchester School District Assistant Superintendent Kelly Espinola said that Central Principal Deb Roukey had not been made aware of any insects in the school’s bathrooms. Manchester School District Superintendent Jenn Chmiel said that it was concerning that Roukey was not given this information.
Central junior Chidinma Ezeugwu, one of the students speaking about the bathrooms during the meeting’s public comment section, told Manchester Ink Link that attempts to receive a response through e-mail were unsuccessful and it had been difficult to meet with Roukey during the school day due to the limited amount of time outside of class head to Roukey’s office to voice their concerns directly as well as Roukey’s frequent travels throughout the school’s campus throughout the day.
Manchester Ink Link e-mailed Roukey in response to these claims, receiving a response from an unidentified spokesperson with the Manchester School District repeating that the district had not received any e-mails from any of the students regarding the bathrooms. The spokesperson added that the district would continue to look into the complaints made at the meeting and follow up with school leadership.
Later in the week, the Granite State Organizing Project indicated in a Facebook post that it met with Roukey and Espinola regarding the issue.
The students’ concerns are the latest touchpoint in a ongoing focus on school cleanliness as the Manchester Board of School Committee seeks improved service from Aramark, its custodial service provider. In recent months, the board approved several million more dollars annually to Aramark in order to receive Association of Physical Plant Administrators (APPA) Level 1 service, the highest level of cleanliness in APPA’s Operational Guidelines for Educational Facilities.
Board of School Committee Vice Chair Jim O’Connell began to express his frustration with Aramark, but Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais advised him to cut his comments short given likely contract re-negotiations that would be discussed later that night in non-public session.
Ward 1 Board of School Committee Member Julie Turner hoped discussion from the meeting showed that students have an avenue to make their concerns heard, but she was not the only member of the board that spoke on the topic.
Ward 8 Board of School Committee Member Jess Spillers initially recommended that students take pictures of dirty conditions in bathrooms, but was reminded by district staff that photography is prohibited in school bathrooms and cell phones have been prohibited since the beginning of the year as well.
At-Large Board of School Committee Member Peter Argeropoulos hoped that the concerns brought forward by the students could be incorporated into the overall concerns they share with Aramark.
Ward 9 Board of School Committee Member Bob Baines said he had discussed the matter of cleanliness with Ward 3 Board of School Committee Member Karen Soule and noted that students will not respect unclean bathrooms and believe that uncleanliness sets an expectation that is followed and reinforces itself.
O’Connell also added that if Phase 2 of the district’s facilities plan, which seeks to renovate the city’s high schools and most of its elementary schools should at least provide funding to address bathroom shortfalls if funding cannot be obtained to address building-wide renovation.