MANCHESTER, N.H. – It ain’t easy being green.
The Board of School Committee (BOSC) could not reach a consensus on Monday night when it came to a proposal about transforming the Gatsas Athletic Complex track at Livingston Park into a green color in honor of the fact that it hosts the Manchester Central High School Little Green track team.
With renovations expected at the track in the near future, BOSC Vice Chair Jim O’Connell noted that while the board agreed to help the city with renovation funding at their last meeting, the district then learned that in addition to the standard black or red colors, green is also an option for an additional $25,000.
At the board’s Aug. 26 meeting, the BOSC agreed to use $82,300 from its $800,000 deferred maintenance capital improvement plan (CIP) funding toward supplementing the City Parks and Recreation Department’s renovation efforts for an impervious surface for the track, which is expected to cost $743,800.
Ward 6 BOSC Member Dan Bergeron asked why this wouldn’t be going to the newly formed Athletics Subcommittee for review, with O’Connell stating that a meeting of the committee has not yet been scheduled. Assistant Superintendent Forrest Ransdell also noted that this is a time sensitive issue, as renovations are slated for completion by the spring. As a former vice principal at Central, Ransdell also understood why some members of the board could support “going for green.”
“Sometimes it is a challenge to feel like you have a home since everything is satellited away from the campus. So I’ll just add that as a bit of context,” he said, with Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais joking immediately after that the comment was “a bit of color.”
Ward 1 BOSC Member Julie Turner has heard from constituents across the political spectrum supporting the green option in her ward, which is the home of the track. She said that Ward 1 Alderman Chris Morgan has heard the same.
“That CIP money is not buying new instruments, it’s not hiring half of a teacher,” “I one hundred percent agree that when Central kids are let out of their building, they don’t get to walk down to their home track, to their home field. I have got to say very strongly that the consensus from everyone I’ve talked to is they want the track green.”
O’Connell felt that it would be an equity issue to keep all tracks at the city’s public high schools in the same red color and Ward 9 BOSC Member Bob Baines was vehemently opposed, citing his experience as principal of Manchester West High School in the 1990s when his school sought to add a track.
“Nobody ever discussed with us making the track blue, we just wanted a track,” he said, adding that it’s a finance rather than athletics issue.
There was a lack of clarity over whether a decision could be made as under Rule 2.11 of the board’s rules, items brought up under new business should be informational or requests for future meetings unless the issue is deemed an emergency or time sensitive. Although Ransdell had indicated the matter was time sensitive, BOSC Clerk Angela Carey advised the mayor to see if there was an informal consensus on the board to move forward, with the mayor determining by a show of hands that there was no consensus to move forward on approving the $25,000.
