December 11 will be the last meeting for the current Board of School Committee (BOSC) before the recently elected board organizes in January. Here are a few items of interest from the meeting packet.
Recognitions
In addition to recognition of Heisman High School Scholarship finalist Colleen Stankiewicz, the board will also recognize BOSC members participating in their final meeting. That list includes Ken Tassey Jr. (Ward 6), Peter Perich (Ward 8), Ben Dion (Ward 9), Gary Hamer (Ward 10), Dr. Nicole Leapley (Ward 11) and Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig.
Craig also served as the Ward 1 BOSC Member from 2008-2010.
New Joint Varsity Teams
There is a request to merge the girls’ field hockey teams at Manchester Central and Memorial. Last season, there was a cooperative team for Central and Manchester that had 15 players, four of whom graduated. They finished 2-14. Memorial had 15 players and finished 2-13-1. Neither program had a junior varsity team and it is expected that numbers will continue to decline.
Manchester School District Athletic Coordinator Christine Telge asked that West be included in the new cooperative team, but the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association denied this request due to school enrollment numbers.
A new cooperative girls’ lacrosse team for Central and West was proposed for similar reasons.
The proposal follows trends in recent years of joint teams in sports like ice hockey, baseball and soccer.
High School Course Catalogs Ready for Review
The 2024-2025 Course Catalog for Manchester’s public high schools is on the docket, with administration indicating a focus on collaboration, learning engagement and equitable access for students. The first draft was submitted in October.
The current draft can be seen on Pages 38 to 114 of the meeting packet.
