SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS were pleased with a recent report from Superintendent Jenn Gillis showing progress toward goals in city schools, with 11 of 17 benchmarks achieved and six others expected to be completed by August.
“This progress is a great point of pride and it’s a big step forward for our district,” Gillis said.
Last fall, Gillis set several detailed goals for the district, aligned with the goals of its strategic plan. District departments and schools also set goals for the year.
The goals detailed by Gillis included:
• Needs-based organizational chart: updating of organizational chart and updates to job descriptions. The 2022-2023 organizational chart was presented in fall of 2022. An updated version will be shared with the school board in August.
• Better communications: regular communications with all stakeholders, new websites and mobile apps. New websites launched in January along with monthly newsletters and direct email communications.
• Stabilized priorities: Refocus and realign priorities to strategic plan, with departments and schools goals.
• Establishment and updating of systems: Audit existing systems, materials and partnerships; MUNIS system upgraded.
• Office of Civil Rights agreement: Monthly updates to board started in October; agreement with OCR 75% satisfied.
• Professional development: Yearly map of targeted opportunities for all staff.
• High school-middle school-elementary configuration: 3-4-12 model established and approved by the Board in August 2022.
• Request for qualifications/proposals: First stages completed, vendor selected.
“While we are certainly celebrating this progress, we know that there is much work left to be done,” Gillis said. “Our district and school leadership teams will be working this summer to establish a new set of goals for the coming school year – we will provide an update on those as we return from summer break.
“I am immensely proud of the work of the district team, school teams, community partners and our board. As I say — a healthy and thriving school system contributes to a healthy and thriving community.”
Manchester officials have announced community members will have a chance to offer their vision for the future of city schools at two “visioning” sessions this summer.
“As part of Manchester School District’s work to build a long-term master plan for school district facilities, we are seeking community input,” Manchester school officials wrote in a social media post. “At this stage, we are working to establish community goals and values about what our schools should look like in the future. Those goals and values will help drive creation of the master plan.”
The work will be spread across two sessions — the first on July 10 and the second on July 20 — and participants are asked to take part in both sessions (which will be held online via Zoom.)
Session 1 is Monday, July 10, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Session 2 will be Thursday, July 20, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
More information about the sessions is available at www.mansd.org.
The Manchester School District is developing a long-term master plan for school facilities, working with SMMA, an architectural/engineering firm, to build a “road map” for what school buildings will look like for this and the next generation of students.
As part of the process of building the master plan, SMMA is gathering information on buildings, demographics and other data points.
The visioning sessions are billed as an interactive process — participants will be shown a presentation and provide feedback using digital tools and in breakout groups.
Manchester school board members voted 8-5 in March to give the school district’s long-term facilities planning effort to Symmes, Maini and McKee Associates (SMMA), which has offices in Cambridge, Mass., and Providence, Rhode Island.
In November 2022, Manchester school officials released a “request for qualifications,” an additional step in the procurement process to ensure that potential bidders are qualified. The district received three submissions, and the Finance and Facilities Committee invited those firms to submit responses to the request for proposals.
A timeline submitted to the board by Lorraine Finnegan, project manager for SMMA, contains a new scope of work that divides the project into two phases.
Phase 1 includes planning for a new high school, and work at Hillside and McLaughlin Middle Schools and the Henry Wilson Elementary School. Phase 2 includes planning for all remaining 17 schools.
In August, Gillis received approval for her “3-4-12 model” — which calls for three high schools, four middle schools and 12 elementary schools.
Manchester currently has four high schools, four middle schools and 13 elementary schools.
Gillis’s presentation did not include recommendations for specific school closures.
School officials say the proposed “3-4-12” model is supported by information gathered through previous studies, including a 2018 Long-Range Facilities Plan, 2021 Capacity/Utilization Review and 2021 Davis Demographics Study.
Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com.
