Learn about recent news and upcoming events

As you know, juniors in the Manchester School District are scheduled to participate in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, as part of the statewide assessment system under New Hampshire RSA 193:C. The testing duration, including required breaks, lunch for students taking the optional essay portion, transition time to the optional essay portion, and the essay portion itself, is approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes in total. The test will begin at 8:00 AM, the non-essay portion will end around 11 :30 AM, and the essay portion will end no later than 1 :30 PM. Of course, these times are approximate and do not account for students with approved extended time. We want to provide a testing environment free from distraction with appropriate testing measures. In order for us to achieve this goal, we believe that no other high school students should participate in the school day on campus. Therefore, students in grades 9, 10, and 12 will not report to school on Ma...

Hillside, McLaughlin, Parkside and Southside middle schools in Manchester have hosted their own geography bees for grades 6-8. On March 1, the top three geography bee finishers from each of the four middle schools will compete for the city title. WHAT: Manchester middle school geography bee championship WHERE: Hillside Middle School                     112 Reservoir Ave., Manchester WHEN: Tuesday, March 1                   6:30 p.m.

Check out what's been happening in our schools the past couple of months! Click below or download the latest newsletter HERE .

Click HERE for a list of vacation week activities and offers compiled by the Office of Youth Services. Have fun!

The Manchester School District is rolling out a new emergency notification system called SchoolMessenger. This is part of our ongoing efforts to improve safety and communication. Five schools participated in an initial test call on Friday, February 19. Test messages were sent to prioritized emergency phone and email contacts for students at Gossler Park Elementary School, Manchester High School West, Manchester Memorial High School, Middle School at Parkside and Parker-Varney Elementary School.  The Manchester School District will continue rolling out this important communication tool to all schools in the coming months.  If your emergency contact information has changed please contact your child's school so that our information systems can be updated.

More than 25 students and staff members at West High School agreed to donate their hair to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths   initiative, which uses real hair to create wigs for women battling cancer. The Class of 2016 planned the event and recruited participants who sat in front of the student body to allow their hair to be cut by a friend or family member. Each donation of hair was required to be at least eight inches -- for some girls, that was an entire pony tail; for others, their hair was so long, they had more inches to spare. Pantene professionals were on hand to shape and style all of the new short 'dos. Principal Motika got in on the action as well, letting the senior class president Alea Dolman shave his head. We think he looks great! Pantene Beautiful Lengths at West High School from Communications Coordinator on Vimeo .

Beech Street Elementary School is the second school in Manchester this year to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a HealthierUS School Challenge: Smarter Lunchrooms award. With its silver award designation, Beech Street joins the ranks of an elite group of schools across the country recognized for excellence in their integration of health, nutrition and fitness education. Only about 7% of the nation’s schools -- and 31 in New Hampshire! -- have achieved bronze, silver, gold, or gold of distinction HealthierUS status. The HealthierUS challenge is a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. Schools participating in the challenge voluntarily adopt USDA standards for food they serve at their schools, agree to provide nutrition education, and provide opportunities for physical activity. To celebrate Beech Street School's accomplishment, a representative from the USDA presented Mancheste...

The top spellers from Hillside, McLaughlin, Parkside and Southside middle schools in Manchester -- Aashaya Rajbhandri, Amir Melkic, Scott Ogden, and Dennis Kotee -- will compete in the state competition in Concord on February 27. In the meantime, just for fun and practice, the top three spelling bee finishers from each of the four middle schools were invited to take the stage at Central High School for the Manchester city title. The ten spellers with their middle school principals Representing Hillside Middle School: Logan Gokey McKenzie McFee-Frechette (absent) Aashaya Rajbhandri Representing McLaughlin Middle School: Kevin Lopez Amir Melkic Anxhela Zguri Representing Middle School at Parkside: Jose Mireles-Sparks Scott Ogden Ethan Walls Representing Southside Middle School: Dennis Kotee Jaden Moore (absent) Vaelen Murphy Mr. Ransdell presents  Aashaya Rajbhandri with the first place trophy Director of Manchester Historic association John Clayt...

Elementary school lunches in Manchester are cooked in the commissary of Beech Street School and delivered every day to the other 13 elementary schools in the city. This school year, Parker-Varney Elementary School has been cooking and serving school lunches from its newly renovated kitchen.  The school hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on February 16 for the kitchen, which is the result of last year's third grade research project to improve school lunch. Students surveyed all elementary schools in Manchester to find out students' likes, dislikes and suggestions.  After collecting and analyzing the survey data, Parker-Varney's third graders proposed some solutions, which led to the approval of an on-site kitchen catered by Cafe Services. Students say lunch menus now offer new and different options more aligned with their tastes. The school-wide assembly and ribbon-cutting celebrated the students' hard work and gave community members -- including Mayor Gats...

Inclement Weather Alert: On Tuesday, February 16 there will be a two hour delay and no morning preschool.

All four of Manchester's middle school principals -- Mr. McCafferty of Hillside, Mr. Krantz of McLaughlin, Mrs. Gillis of Southside, and Mr. Ransdell of Parkside -- braved the ice cold Atlantic Ocean on February 7 and raised money for Special Olympics New Hampshire. The 17th Annual Penguin Plunge fundraiser was to benefit Special Olympics New Hampshire. Hundreds of participants run into the water at Hampton Beach every year as individuals or teams. Our middle school principals raised $1,855! They say they are ready to do it again and bring along the assistant principals in 2017!

Congratulations to Green Acres Elementary School for reaching its food drive goal! The fifth grade student council coordinated the school-wide effort that collected 1,560 items for  New Horizons for New Hampshire.