The town is familiar with the “What Are You Reading Now?” program at Manchester Community Schools, as it has received much local support and has been a reasonable success in the school system.
There is a new plan that will broaden this program and reach more kids, according to Amy Acree, media specialist for Manchester Community Schools.
At Tuesday night’s Manchester School Board meeting, Acree announced a new website with the title “Read It Global.” The site would allow students to use social media to share what books they are reading with their friends in the school district and beyond.
“With the power of the hashtag we can promote reading to a global audience,” Acree told the board.
To make the website even more fun for students, they will have a genre of the month sponsored by a famous author. The first one will be Kate McMullan, author of the chapter books “Dragon Slayer’s Academy” and picture books such as “I Stink!” and “Fluffy Goes to School.”
They also want kids to experience new genres every month. The first theme will be fantasy and everyone who participates will share what they are reading now with the hashtag #readitoctober. The webpage is still being constructed and should function by Oct. 1.
The Rotary Club has proposed a new volunteer program to mentor teens in Manchester Jr-Sr. High School. The club believes teens are in need of positive role models and should spend time constructively and productively while still in high school. Having a mentor would not only occupy a students time, but also help them plan ahead.
A Rotary Club spokesman made a point to the board that many students in the 21st Century program do not take up the opportunities for reduced or free tuition because they don’t plan beyond their high school years. In order to correct this, the Rotary Club would like to recruit teens and adults from Manchester University, local businesses and religious organizations to be a guiding force in these teens’ lives. There is a plan for these candidates to attend a class online for proper instruction and guidelines the group can keep as a standard.
To train 20 adults would cost $500 and administration $900 – a $1400 total for additional one-on-one support.
The board is still considering the proposal, as it is still in a basic state of suggestion. They are interested in pursuing such a program, but would like to have at least 10 volunteers commit to it beforehand.
The graduation rate for 2016 will have a high mark to beat. The class of 2015 was exceptional, the board heard, with a graduation rate of 96.9 percent. Thirty-one students received a general diploma, 30 received the Core 40 diploma and 36 students graduated with either an academic or technical honors Core 40 diploma.
Seventy-seven of those students took a total of 118 Advanced Placement exams.
Additionally, the End of Course Assessment results have been released, showing that 85 percent of first time test takers passed the English 10 ECA. A total of 76 percent also passed the Algebra I ECA.
Nancy Alspaugh, principal of Manchester High School, said, “It was a huge staff effort to prepare the students and we pulled through together.”
Scott Burngardner attended the town council meeting on the school board’s behalf regarding the new property annexation to expand the North Manchester area.
The school board’s general consensus is positive and they encourage the expansion. They said they look forward to receiving more students from the project and to meeting them soon.
(Story By The Times Union)
