Learn about recent news and upcoming events

McLaughlin Middle School students have been busy learning and using the Makerbot Replicator+ 3D printer provided by People's United Bank last year. The tech ed and wood shop classes, where the curriculum is designed to integrate elements of engineering, was a natural fit for using this new technology. Among the students' projects -- design bubble wands for blowing bubbles. First, the students learned all about bubbles and what designs would work to best to make a good bubble blowing wand. Then, the students printed their bubble wands using the MakerBot 3D printer. The next steps in the project were to design and build a storage rack or stand, to store their jar of bubbles and wand. The engineering process gave students the opportunity to ask questions, research, imagine, plan, create, test, and make improvements.

The public is invited to a  Building and Sites Committee special meeting at West High School on Tue sday, February 20 at 5:30 pm.  The purpose of the meeting is for the community to listen to a presentation of the design of the school district central office move to the third floor of West High School. After the presentation, a town hall-style discussion will allow anyone to ask questions, make comments, and/or express concerns. Prior to the formal meeting, West High School principal Rick Dichard will give a tour of the affected areas of the school at  5:15  for those who are interested. You can see a sketch of the preliminary proposal HERE . 

Southside Middle School science teacher Amanda Lotz wrote an article featured in EdSurge, a resource for educators that focuses on sharing information about using technology to support teaching and learning. Ms. Lotz shared her experience with developing personalized learning opportunities for her students that  transformed her classroom .

The Central High School Guidance Department will be hosting a Career Day on April 17, 2018 from 8:30am - 2pm. Following the success of the format West High School adopted last spring, Central is organizing this career day event as a school-wide opportunity to introduce students to a broad range of professional fields. Central High School is currently seeking business partners from all fields, new and traditional, to spend the day with students and educate them about the careers available to them in their futures. Every teacher will be paired with a different professional for the day, matched as closely as possible to the subject area most relevant to the business. As a result, each professional will have the opportunity to interact with hundreds of students as they move throughout their classes for the day, and each student will be exposed to at least five career fields. If your business is interested in helping educate our students for Career Day at Central High School, p...

“My Third Eye," pen; Ashley Thompson, 2017 The public is invited to attend an art exhibit celebrating the talents of current students at Manchester High School West. Please join them on Friday, January 26 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. The event is free to all and will feature artist talks, music, refreshments, and hundreds of art pieces to enjoy on the second floor in the library. Guests should use the main entrance located on Notre Dame Avenue. Support has been provided by West High School, the 104th chapter of the Nation al Art Honor Society, and Tri-M music honor society. Donations to our supporters will be gladly accepted but not required to attend.

The numbers are in for the winter holiday vacation reading challenge for elementary and middle school students. A total of 401 readers submitted their logs. Students in preschool through grade 5 spent 1,158 hours reading, while students in grades 6-8 read 170 books.  Congratulations to the winners of the T-BONES and Cactus Jack's gift certificates raffle. They qualified to win just for turning in their completed reading records! Thank you to our friends at the Manchester City Library, the local businesses that donated prizes to our readers, all of the students who participated this first time out, and their families and teachers for encouraging them. Watch for details on next year's program in the fall!

Due to the number of snow days in the second quarter of the academic year, the first semester for middle and high school students will end on January 29, instead of January 25. High school mid-term exams will take place on January 24, 25, 26 and 29. This change also affects the dates of the second semester. The third quarter will begin on January 30 and end on April 6. The fourth quarter will begin on April 9. Unless make-up days are added to the end of the school year because of more weather-related closures, high school final exam dates in June remain as scheduled. The decision to adjust the calendar was made to account for the number of classroom days lost when school was canceled for snow in recent weeks. There are five "snow days" built into the academic calendar, and Manchester has used four since October.

DURHAM, N.H. – A new program developed by the University of New Hampshire will help 30 students from Manchester West and Dover high schools with academic talent and financial need attend college to study in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math. The Finishers’ Program will provide up to four years of scholarships as well as ongoing academic support and job placement assistance.  The program, which has received a five-year $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, grew out of a need to continue supporting students participating in Manchester’s STEAM Ahead program. It partners with Manchester West and Dover high schools, as they represent the largest and fastest growing urban areas respectively in New Hampshire. “STEAM Ahead is a successful public school/private industry partnership – participating students are absent one-fifth as often and have almost a point higher GPA than those not participating in the program -- but when they graduate high sch...