MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Tuesday, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen shot down a bond request for construction at McLaughlin and Hillside Middle Schools that would allow the addition of fifth grade classrooms. They also overwhelmingly supported a bonding request related to technology improvements in the Manchester School District.
In July, Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt told the Manchester Board of School Committee that Aldermanic support for the construction bonds were unlikely, and the COVID-19 pandemic had also made them less urgent due to uncertainty surrounding the near future and how many students would learn in-person at Manchester schools. He added then that a need for improved remote learning technology is needed for the exact same reason, indicating that he would bring a request for a bond related to that need.
The bulk of the technology request is geared toward new Chromebooks as well as replacement laptops for teachers and other assorted equipment such as items related to video.
While the fifth-grade additions could theoretically just be postponed given the efforts to bring fifth grade to Southside Middle School even after the Board of Aldermen refused bond funding for that effort, the Aldermen renewed their opposition to construction bonding by a 7-6 vote.
The fifth-grade construction effort had support from parts of the board such as Alderman Barbara Shaw (Ward 9), who felt it was not fair to hold up what has now become a multi-year process that has seen the support of several superintendents.
However, Alderman Anthony Sapienza (Ward 5) felt the request was inappropriate given last month’s vote against an override that would steer state aid toward the district as well as the $1.3 million amount of the request, which he felt was inadequate.
“You can’t just take a junior high school built in the 1960s and transform it into a middle school for a few hundred thousand dollars,” he said.
In the vote, Sapienza was joined by Dan O’Neil (At-Large), Joseph Kelly Levasseur (At-Large), Bill Barry (Ward 10), Keith Hirschmann (Ward 12), Kevin Cavanaugh (Ward 1), and Will Stewart (Ward 2) in opposing the measure. Shaw supported it along with Mike Porter (Ward 8), Normand Gamache (Ward 11), Pat Long (Ward 3), Jim Roy (Ward 4) and Elizabeth Moreau (Ward 6). Ross Terrio (Ward 7) was absent. The motion would have needed ten votes to pass.
Shortly after that vote, the Aldermen voted 11-2 to support the technology bond request, with only Roy and Levasseur in opposition.
While Roy did not speak directly to the technology request, he did note studies done on the move to add fifth grade to the city’s middle schools and the projected reduced class sizes at lower grades stemming from the move. Roy said that the shift came from a small minority in the community scaring off certain members of the board.
Levasseur voiced suspicion over the amount of the technology request, which was also $1.3 million, fearing that money would just be used for the construction efforts, a claim Goldhardt denied. Porter also voiced skepticism over the $1.3 million figure, but felt it may be too low, asking Goldhardt to return with a larger proposal in the future.
