MANCHESTER, N.H. – On a 12-2 vote, The Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) approved a plan for current students and staff at Hallsville Elementary School after the school closes at this summer.
In a plan presented by Memorial/MST Network Director Forrest Ransdell, students from kindergarten to Grade 4 will be placed at Jewett Elementary School, with the projected 231 students in those grades coming from Hallsville creating a projected K-4 population of 458 students for the 2021-’22 school year.
This projection assumes that approximately 50 children that were expected to attend Hallsville this school year, primarily in kindergarten, will return to the Manchester School District next school year once the pandemic subsides.
Under its current configuration, the “ideal” enrollment size for Jewett is approximately 410 students, with the plan redesignating several non-classrooms at Jewett for classroom use.
Hallsville students heading into fifth grade would be placed at Southside Middle School in the fall.
Families living east of Mammoth Road and north of Candia Road will see their children head to Weston Elementary School in the future, but families with students in that area currently attending Hallsville can transfer to Jewett if they so choose. Likewise, one parcel at the corner of Mammoth and Candia is currently within the Green Acres’ Elementary School district and they can stay within Green Acres, but future families at that property will see their children head to Weston.
Only two staff positions, a half-time assistant principal slot and a reading supervisor, will be eliminated. Hallsville Principal Christopher McDonald will take a sabbatical.
Almost all other positions would be transferred to Jewett or Southside, with one English teacher heading to Highland/Goffe’s Falls Elementary School, a math intervention specialist heading to Wilson Elementary School and several food service specialists and crossing guards heading to a school to be determined.
Approximately $50,000 will be needed to transfer materials from Hallsville to other schools, an amount that Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt says is far less than the amount that would be saved on maintaining the school.
Peter Perich (Ward 8) and Jeremy Dobson (Ward 5) were the only votes in opposition
