SCHOOL OFFICIALS say the Manchester district’s new transportation department is ready to roll as schools prepare to welcome students this Wednesday for the 2024-2025 academic school year.
After school board members expressed surprise two weeks ago at learning the district would need to acquire additional buses to cover transportation needs for sports and extracurricular activities, administrators say they have issued a request for proposals for additional buses to address the issue.
“We are looking forward to a smooth start of the year,” Forrest Ransdell, the district’s assistant operations superintendent, told school board members this past Monday. “We believe we’ve got everything planned and covered.”
Manchester school officials voted in March to take control of bus operations this fall at a cost of more than $4.2 million.
The plan, approved on a unanimous voice vote, includes the creation of a new Manchester School District Transportation department for the 2024-2025 school year, the hiring of 46 bus drivers at a cost of $2.5 million and four new managers to oversee it at a cost of almost $600,000 for salaries, retirement and benefits. Total personnel costs are anticipated at $3.1 million.
According to Ransdell, the bus routes for the 2024-2025 school year are being posted on the Manchester school district’s website, with 43 routes in the morning and 45 in the afternoon.
The district has a pool of 43 drivers — 36 full-timers that drive both morning and afternoon routes, four morning-only drivers and three afternoon-only drivers.
Ransdell said the district has three open routes in the morning and four in the afternoon, which it will cover with the part-time drivers and through other adjustments.
Ransdell said the district has 52 school buses: four 30-passenger buses, five 14-passenger buses, six 89-passenger buses and 39 buses that hold 77 passengers.
After learning the Manchester Transit Authority regularly supplemented the school fleet with its own buses for athletics and extracurricular charters, the district posted a request for proposals to purchase 10 previously owned school buses. Ransdell estimated the cost of a new bus to be around $200,000. Used ones are significantly less.
The district has approximately $1.2 million in capital funds intended specifically for vehicle acquisition, Ransdell said.
“We are starting the year with three spare buses, which may present some challenges as we cover some of our extracurriculars,” Ransdell said. “However, the transportation department has been working really diligently with the athletic department.
“We’re doing it two weeks at a time, and we’ve got the first two weeks completely covered. The only thing we’ve had to do is modify some scheduled departure times by very small amounts.”
School board vice chairman Jim O’Connell, who two weeks ago referred to the district’s issuing a request for bids with no advance notice as “questionable activity,” was handing out “kudos to everyone” on Aug. 26 for their handling of the situation.
“In the two weeks since our last meeting I’ve had conversations with the people running our new transportation department,” O’Connell said. “I want to give some credit to the district for successfully doing this.
“Our school district is going to pick up every kid on every route in the time in which they should be. I have great faith, having spoken to everybody, we’re going to have a bus service that we can be proud of by the end of the first week and a half.”
Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel Gillis said the district plans to use some loaner buses until the RFP process is completed.
“We’re in great shape,” Gillis said.
Retirement recognition
School board members took some time at their Monday meeting to recognize Tracy Mancuso, who recently retired after 42½ years working in the district as an administrative assistant to the superintendent — a career spanning 10 different school administrations.
“This employee has largely operated behind the scenes but has played a critical role in the district for four decades,” said Gillis, the 10th and last superintendent Mancuso worked for.
“She always says I was her favorite No. 10. She gamely adapted to meet the needs of those different superintendents, adjusting over time with changes in technology, staffing and even the physical location of her or our office. We are so grateful for her dedication and commitment to our community.”
Gillis said, “While we are sad to see her go, she has earned her retirement and we truly wish her the best.”
Former mayor and current Ward 9 school board member Bob Baines said it was “an honor” to work with Mancuso.
“I think I’ve worked with you longer than anyone in the room tonight,” Baines said. “She started with Emile Beaulieu when he was elected mayor, and when he was defeated she stayed on with Mayor Robert Shaw. Then she decided she wanted more stable employment instead of waiting for elections to come around. She has been the consummate professional for everything she has done for this school district.”
Baines said while he was working as a high school principal, he could always rely on Mancuso “for good advice and good counsel,” and the two spoke frequently while he served as mayor for six years.
“When I’ve done various projects with the school district, she was always someone I’d enjoy sitting and talking with, because we used to talk about all these superintendents — the good, the bad and the ugly,” Baines said. “We wish you nothing but the best in retirement.
“In the military we used to say, ‘old soldiers never die, they just fade away,’ but I don’t think you’re going to fade away.”
Hillside election parking
Because of construction at Hillside Middle School and the presence of temporary modular units, parking for voters in the Sept. 10 state primary election will be different.
Handicapped-accessible parking will be available in the same location in front of the building by the main entrance. General parking will be available in the lots behind and on the west side of the building, with shuttle service to the back entrance of the polling place.
Limited on-street parking will also be available on Reservoir Avenue.
City Clerk Matt Normand said it’s likely the same protocols will be in effect for the general election in November, but it’s too early to know for sure.
“We have given both election dates to the contractors and they have been very accommodating so far,” Normand said in a text message.
The contractor has pledged to move any heavy equipment off site and will not be working on election days at schools that serve as polling locations, Normand said.
Contact the Office of the City Clerk at 603-624-6455 or elections@manchesternh.gov with any questions.
Local schools get grants
Three Manchester schools are among 31 schools across the state to receive portions of $652,500 in literacy grants awarded by the New Hampshire Department of Education on Thursday.
The grants are intended to provide funding for resources to help students master literacy skills and help public and public charter schools establish Science of Reading skills and techniques with kindergarten through sixth-grade students.
Local school officials must commit the grants, funded with COVID relief funds, to vendors by Sept. 30.
Three elementary schools in Manchester will receive grants: Gossler Park School ($3,630); Highland-Goffe’s Falls School ($2,745) and Weston Elementary School ($5,188.95).
