Manchester, NH - Victoria Sullivan, a former New Hampshire State Representative and Assistant Majority Leader who served two terms on the House Education Committee, issued the following statement on plans for a consolidated high school in Manchester:
"The Manchester School system exists for the children and their parents. Period. The tax dollars that fund the schools are hard-earned, and in many cases, hard to afford. While many other school districts in New Hampshire and around the country quickly and safely reopened, Manchester lagged behind. This lack of adaptability caused parents to explore alternatives, which was only precipitated by increasingly awful test scores and outcomes from the school district over Mayor Joyce Craig's tenure. We have been experiencing declining enrollment for some time, and that’s why conversations around a mega-high school are being had right now.
"A recent study from the University of Rochester concluded that the ideal high school size is 600-900 students. The study noted that our country's most disadvantaged students, minority and low-income children, saw learning fall off sharply as the schools become larger than 900 students. Graduation rates and opportunities for scholarships also decline in larger schools, while disciplinary issues and children that fall through the cracks increase.
"Let me be clear: I am not for a mega-high school. What I am for is for our schools to innovate and grow to meet the needs of those they serve. I am for competition, magnet schools, tax credits, and flexibility in education. Portable tax credits will particularly benefit all parents who will be able to send their child to the school of their choice.
"As a mother, these education issues are really important to me. As a taxpayer that struggles to make ends meet like so many in this city, I understand how important it is too. The children are our future and the parents that raise them have a hard enough time in this ever-changing world.
"As the state's largest school district, our city should have been leading in education for years. As they say, the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best time is today. Now is the time for Manchester to lead and move past the same failed approaches of years past."
KEY ITEMS AS PART OF VICTORIA SULLIVAN'S EDUCATION PLAN:
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Promote school choice in all ways possible. Charter schools, online schools, learning pods, homeschool communities, private schools - they all provide valuable diversity in education.
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Provide tax credits for families to send their children to the school they desire.
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Strengthen parental voice in education. Increasing parental involvement increases student engagement and outcomes.
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Task the school board with an action plan to address the decline of district performance. Under Mayor Craig's leadership, the numbers have simply gone down.
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Create a Beech Street School strategy. It is currently one of the lowest-performing schools in the state.
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Implement cost-saving measures, such as making the school district a department of the city and reducing non-teaching staff to align with decreased enrollment.
