NORTH MANCHESTER – With the countdown to the new school year now just days away, the Manchester School Board discuss a few more issues Tuesday before welcoming a new year. The 2014-15 school year will begin with many new faces joining a familiar Manchester Community Schools team. The new Manchester Elementary staff includes: Kayla Jablonski, second grade; Haley Trump, third grade; Samantha Sorg, K-2 special education; Andrea Villafana, K-12 ELL coordinator; Susan Lee, special education; and Catherine Huber, music. Joining the Manchester Intermediate School team will be Tammy Allen, grade five level chair, and instructional aides Jane Bellinger and Patricia Shoemaker. The school board made the approval of transfer students during their meeting. Superintendent Dr. Bill Reichhart said accepting transfer students should not be an issue because right now, enrollment is a little lower than in previous years. “My best estimate would be that we have enrolled more than 70 new students and we’re losing students too,” Reichhart said. “I am going to guess we are going to be around 1,605 students and last year we started with 1,632 students.” Manchester Elementary School Principal Wes Mullett said the open house at the elementary school will be Monday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. This is the night before school starts. “I think with young students being a bit apprehensive, (the open house) will help them to see who their teacher is and where their classrooms are,” Mullett said. Manchester Intermediate School Principal Randy Self said his open house will be Aug. 20 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. This is when fifth graders will receive their iPads for the school year. Like last year, the sixth graders will still receive their iPads on the second day of school. Manchester High School Principal Nancy Alspaugh said there will be an orientation Thursday for the seventh to ninth grade students. This orientation will be to help students adjust to a new system. Dr. Reichhart concluded the meeting by discussing ISTEP testing results. He said the district exceeded state averages in some areas, but some improvements are needed in other subjects. One major focus this school year will be English and language arts. “We want to improve our areas of weakness,” Reichhart said. “We are hoping with these new teachers we just hired that we get some stability and they stick around for a number of years, or for life to help us with stability.”
