Building Configuration Committee Settles on Recommending Partial Closure of Ackerson

The Building Configuration Committee tasked with producing a recommendation to the school board on the best layout and use of the four school buildings, met last Tuesday, March 15, 2016. They began the meeting with 15 brainstormed proposals and narrowed them down to the 4 that they felt were the best options: Final Four Options.

All four options involve closing all of Ackerson except the hall housing the Community Resource Center and food pantry, the Co-op Preschool and the Gym. All four options involve keeping Klager K – 4th grade with the addition of the Manchester Early Childhood Center (MECC) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE). Early On/ First Steps Manchester (EO) will be moved to either Klager or the Middle School in the four options and Central Office could be moved to any of the other three buildings. Only one option involves moving any of the K – 12th grades and that is moving 8th grade to the High School and bringing in additional programs to the Middle School, for example, STEM or Alternative Education.

The Committee will meet again on March 22 at which time their goal will be to narrow the final four options down to one which will be presented to the Board of Education on April 18. This option should hopefully both cut costs and more efficiently utilize the buildings in the face of decreasing enrollment.

Read minutes of meeting here: Building Configuration Committee Meeting Minutes.

The School Board meets tonight – Monday, March 21, at 6pm in the Board Room of the Ackerson Building. 

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by Sara Swanson

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