Fifteen Different School Building Configurations for 2016-2017 Being Considered

The closing of the Nellie Ackerson Building located at 410 City Road which houses Manchester Community School Schools Central Office as well as their pre-K programs, is a feature of the majority of the building configuration options being considered.

The Building Configuration Committee met last Tuesday, Feb 23, 2016. This committee is tasked with eventually producing a recommendation to the school board on a new building use configuration for the district starting in the fall that will both cut costs and more efficiently utilize the buildings in the face of decreasing enrollment. At this most recent meeting they brainstormed 15 different configurations and the pros and cons of each. They will meet again on March 15 to continue discussing the proposed configurations.

Click HERE to read previous coverage on decreasing enrollment and the budget issue.

Of the 15 proposals, 10 involved closing either the Ackerson building, which currently houses the Manchester Early Childhood Center, Early Childhood Special Education, Early-On and Manchester Community School’s Central Office, as well as two outside organizations, the Manchester Co-op Preschool and the Community Resource Center, and two involve closing the Manchester Middle School, which houses grades 5 through 8. Other proposals involve closing one or the other side of Ackerson or not closing anything.

If Ackerson is closed, moving the central office to any one of the other school buildings is on the table. Many of the proposals have 5th grade returning to Klager and some have 8th grade moving to the high school. A few have 5th & 6th grade moving to Klager and 7th & 8th grade moving to the High School. One has Kindergarten moving to Ackerson, and others have the K-12 student distribution remaining the same it is now with only the pre-K programs moving. Every plan has its pros and cons.

Read the minutes of the meeting here: builingconfigurationminutes The proposed building configurations were not included in the minutes. 

To contact the Superintendent, click HERE or attend the next meeting with the Superintendent on March 9, 2016 at 7 pm in the board room of the Ackerson building. Attend the next school board meeting March 21st, 2016 at 6 pm also in board room of the Nellie Ackerson Building. Click HERE to contact the Mirror about this (or any other) issue facing our community.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.