MANCHESTER, N.H. – After months and months of speculation, the Manchester Board of School Committee got their first chance to discuss the long-awaited Phase Two of the Manchester School District Facilities Plan, called “Priority Two” in the board’s meeting agenda.
This second part of the plan focuses on renovations and rebuilding of the city’s public high schools and elementary schools minus Beech Street Elementary School, which was part of the first portion of the plan.
Some opponents of the proposal, who have recently spoke out regarding concerns around cost, transparency and need of the first phase of the facilities plan, returned to voice concerns about the recently renamed Priority Two, although there were also members of the public that joined the board’s excitement at the advancement of the facilities plan.
In particular, supporters of the plan focused on concerns regarding the cost of Priority Two. While opponents of the plan saw the overall price tag of the combined 16 school renovations and reconstructions coming in at over an expected billion dollars, the supporters noted that this figure would be spread out over a generation. Indeed, they noted that some of the children currently in the schools planned for renovation or reconstruction at the end of Phase 2 will never directly see the benefits of the changes, with instead their children more likely to reap those benefits.
The first group of Elementary Schools in Priority Two includes a trio of buildings built in the 1950s: Gossler Park, Jewett Street and Smyth Road. Those schools along with Central High School are scheduled for planning and construction between 2026 and 2032. Several more phases are planned after that stretching all the way out to 2053.
Response from the board was uniformly positive.
“It’s about time. I’m so excited to see this,” said Ward 1 Board of School Committee Member Julie Turner.
Turner, who moved to Manchester in 2002, said she had yet to see any significant changes to the Manchester School District’s facilities over that time. She added her frustration toward people who said the district should focus on curriculum or personnel, something she says has already been done, as well as those who say “It’s not the right time” for new schools.
“We can’t wait any longer,” she said. “It’s time to make a tremendous investment for our students.
Ward 7 Board of School Committee Member Chris Potter went even further, hoping for acceleration of plan for the sake of students at those schools not set to see changes for decades, such as Parker-Varney Elementary School.
“Our students can’t wait another 25 years,” he said.
All plans and cost estimates are not set in stone, and several options on how to proceed still remain, such as the possibility of seeking a new site for Central somewhere else in the heart of the city. Ward 9 Board of School Member Bob Baines said that Priority Two should be seen as a statement of ideas and benchmarks given its generational nature. He also noted former Manchester Mayor Josephat Benoit spearheaded the Gossler Park, Jewett Street and Smyth Road construction projects as well as additions at Central despite being known for fiscal conservatism.
He also rattled off a series of numerous public schools in the city that had opened and closed over Manchester’s history, insinuating that the people of Manchester in the past had never been opposed to the evolution of Manchester’s schools when it was needed.
“Our forefathers made some very different decisions,” he said.
While all members of the board spoke in favor of the proposal, several members of the board hoped for future community listening sessions on the proposal, reiterating the concept is more of a framework at this point than anything else.
In addition to the location of Central in the plan, one of the other key concepts still in flux is the number of high schools that would be in the plan. Currently there would be three, continuing the three current high schools in the district. However, another option posits two 2,000 student schools instead.
Ward 2 Board of School Committee member Sean Parr said that having three high schools with one smaller than the others may limit opportunities for students at that smaller school. At-Large Board of School Committee member Peter Argeropoulos believed that it was urgent to build new schools to keep up with nearby communities like Nashua, where he currently serves as a principal, but that Manchester should not go into the process with any mandatory requirements other than bringing the best educational outcomes for all Manchester students.
In the past, the closure of one of Manchester’s public high schools indicated the closure of Manchester West High School, the smallest of the current three schools. However, it was mentioned that if there were two schools instead of three, one of the schools could be a new West and the other could be placed somewhere east of the Merrimack River.
Ward 10 Board of School Committee Member Joy Senecal asked for data on costs for renovating versus rebuilding schools, which she was told could be provided at future meetings. Ward 4 Board of School Committee Member Leslie Want hoped for Pre-K services at all elementary schools, although representatives of SMMA, the district’s architectural planners, said that Pre-K classrooms are very specialized and it may not be feasible to be placed in every elementary school.
The presentation was for informational purposes only, with no immediate actions taken on the information given.