O P I N I ON
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
The recent vote of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BoMA) to yet again delay work on the new Beech Street School is disappointing at best, downright harmful at worst. The community at large depends on a lively, vigorous school system. This move will stifle our current growth and momentum as a city. I suppose though, that is what people wanted.
By voting for the same people over and over again, whose only real interest in politics is personal gain, we continue as a community to elevate the worst examples of public service. People love the drama, but this isn’t an episode of reality TV—far removed from our every day life. The vote on Tuesday night has real consequences for Manchester.
I’d like to remind the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the history of a few things they cited as being reasons not to move forward with the new Beech Street School.
The Manchester Board of School Committee (MBoSC) asked for a tax cap budget—we were denied. Furthermore, the BoMA took $4.2 million out and told us to do more with less; now they want to cite funding issues with the Manchester School of Technology (MST) building projects as evidence of the MBoSC and the School District’s “inability” to manage our finances. The BoMA denied the sale of two of those plots of land from the MST building project stating they wanted to help MST “find a way” to retain them for the benefit of the students, yet have fallen short (see BoMA Committee on Lands and Building minutes from March 21, 2023).
MST came with their own solution to fund the building project, were denied, and now the BoMA is wondering why it can’t move forward? Why are we sitting on potential houses that could be built and sold to benefit the city and our education system? Because the BoMA doesn’t want to fund education at even a base level. They want to enfold the School District and the MBoSC as a city department, bringing it under their full control.
Aldermen have made it no secret that they would prefer the MBoSC not exist. However, we must persist. The BoMA believes they are in a position to refute professional architects, developers, and contractors, having no experience themselves, who say it is in our community’s best interests financially to build a new Beech Street School.
At the MBoSC, we value the education and experience those professionals bring. We listen, we ask questions, and we discuss (pragmatically) how to move forward—making compromises on wish list items recognizing that the project in its totality is more important than the desire of one committee member’s over another’s.
As for transparency, let’s not forget the combined (public) BoMA and MBoSC meeting on March 4th—where the BoMA were all afforded the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers about the Long Term Facilities Projects. SMMA gave a full presentation on both Phases 1 and 2, answering questions about how cost differentials between renovations and new builds function. We have nothing to hide. It’s all on the School District’s website and in the meeting minutes posted on the City’s website.
It’s clear though, that the BoMA is fragmented by partisan politics—even though “alderman” is supposed to be a nonpartisan position. Tuesday’s vote was a clear representation of this issue. Mayor Ruais cast the tie breaking vote—with GOP/conservative members voting in opposition to the land transfer and Democratic members supporting the measure. There is no compromise with them, yet we continue to vote the same people into office year after year and wonder why so little seems to get done?
With such a dysfunctional BoMA, MBoSC must continue to exist. We are a functioning body that respects one another and respects the trust the community has placed in us to ensure an effective and successful school district. If the School District and the MBoSC were to be folded into a city department, the chaos of the BoMA would only further infect the city. Just look at the damage they’ve done by their continuous attempts to sabotage the progress the MBoSC has made on behalf of the city. Look at the BoMA’s inability to own any of it. The BoMA slashed the budget and is now parading a recent $6.5 million supplemental appropriation from last year’s Free & Reduced Lunch enrollments as if they are somehow being extra generous this year—never mind those funds come the State (see the packet from 10/30/24 BoMA meeting). They denied the sale of two plots of land making false promises of help to MST, and now the BoMA has decided they are construction experts—led by a man who is a personal injury attorney.
Look at us and look at them. Don’t fall for it. They aren’t effective. They want you to think they are, though. They act as if they are saving you money by slashing our education budget, when, in the long run, we will suffer more as a community if we don’t invest now. They simultaneously demand more of a system that has been historically, systematically, and unconstitutionally underfunded—all to appear as if they “care.” All to get your vote again in November 2025. At the end of the show, it’s all smoke and mirrors. Don’t be fooled.
Jessica Spillers is the Manchester Board of School Committee Member for Ward 8
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