Manchester Seeking Citizen Input For 'Repurposed Schools'

MANCHESTER, CT — Manchester's Repurposed Schools Committee is launching a neighborhood and town-wide community outreach initiative aimed at gathering citizen input on how four local elementary school buildings will be "repurposed" for future use.

The Manchester Board of Directors has charged the committee with developing a plan for the future of Nathan Hale, Washington, Martin and Robertson schools.

Nathan Hale, decommissioned in 2012, has been vacant the longest and will be the first school targeted for repurposing, town officials said.

Manchester voters have approved between $10 to $12 million for the repurposing initiative as part of the $93 million SMARTR2 referendum in June 2019. A resolution that chartered the Repurposed Schools Committee charges the committee to "engage the community with public input opportunities, as appropriate, to ensure participation and inclusion in the decision making process."

The directors recently approved the committee's request to spend $250,000 on a professional community outreach consultant to work closely with the 22-member committee to solicit input from town residents with targeted outreach to residents from the neighborhoods of each repurposed school building.

The Repurposed Schools Committee has slated a gathering for 6 p.m. Thursday outside Nathan Hale School to formally invite Manchester residents to participate in virtual and in-person brainstorming sessions, socially distanced building tours and community block parties. The committee will begin phone-banking and door-to-door canvassing in May and continue to get repurposing ideas.

Tuesday's speakers should include:

• Manchester Mayor Jay Moran
• Manchester Board of Eduction Chairman Darryl Thames
• Dana Herbert, Washington School District
• Tawanda Mobley, Nathan Hale School District
• Pamela Floyd-Cranford, Manchester Board of Directors
• Teresa Quintana, Robertson School District
• Jessee Muniz-Poland, Washington School District
• Leslie Frey, Nathan Hale School District