MERSD Newsletter

Parents, faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders are invited to attend the FY26 Tentative Budget Hearing on December 11th. This public hearing offers an opportunity to learn about the proposed budget, ask questions, and share feedback. Your input will play an important role in shaping the final FY26 budget.

What is the Tentative Budget?
The Tentative Budget is a preliminary or draft version of the FY26 budget. It provides an early look at projections and highlights key changes, challenges, and opportunities before us as we build next year’s budget. This process is designed to promote transparency and open dialogue about the next steps and goals for budget development.

The FY26 Tentative Budget is a carry-forward or level services budget, maintaining the same scope of programs, class sizes, course offerings, and services as FY25. Staffing levels remain consistent with the current year, though there is flexibility for potential reorganization or adjustments for 2025-2026. Principal and Director staffing and capital requests are not included in the draft financials but are outlined separately under Expanded Efforts and FY26 Capital Requests.

Next Steps

Over the next few months, the School Committee and MERSD administration, with input from the community, will refine budget projections and work toward approving a final budget for adoption and submission to the towns in early March. Throughout January and February, the budget will remain a standing agenda item, with public comment welcomed at the start of all regularly scheduled School Committee meetings. Additionally, a second public hearing in February will provide an additional opportunity for community feedback. These discussions about how to balance the budget are important as these financial decisions directly impact the services, programs, and initiatives that drive student success and school improvement. I encourage you participate.

For more information on the budget process, the full calendar, and updates on district initiatives, visit the MERSD Budget page.

Play is not just something children do, it is one of the most important ways they learn basic skills including academics and social interactions. This critical part of every child's development should be supported by families and schools. In this workshop, join us to learn about the kinds of play and how to help your child make the best out of play.

Monday, December 16th

3:15-4:15pm

Instructor: Alison Turpel

Location: Ms. Turpel's Preschool Classroom

Childcare is available for this workshop!

RSVP: Shelley Mullarkey - mullarkeys@mersd.org or 978-525-6060 and let us know if you would like to access childcare during the workshop.

If you are interested but cannot attend in the afternoon, email Shelley Mullarkey or Allison Collins. Depending on interest level from parents, we may also schedule a repeat of this workshop at 7:00pm on Monday, December 16 via Zoom.

Questions? Contact Allison Collins at collinsa@mersd.org.

We are excited to share that we have been awarded a year 2 competitive grant to partner with DESE to utilize the Supporting Arts & Cultural Vitality (ACV) Index. In year 2 we will develop action plans based on the analysis completed last year through collaborative work by our Arts Council that includes staff, administration, and community members. Time commitments include 4 optional training dates with DESE (dates & times noted below), 5 meetings with MERSD team (after school hours, dates TBD), and some independent work completed at each members own discretion. This process will take place beginning in December and throughout the winter and spring of 2025, wrapping up in June 2025.

We have a couple of spots on the council for interested community members, if you are interested in serving on the Arts Council, please email Director of Curriculum, Heather Leonard directly to express your interest by Friday, December 13th. Based on levels of interest we may have a lottery of spots and will follow back up early next week.

Please reach out to Heather with any questions or to express interest in participating on the council: leonardh@mersd.org

Wednesday, January 08, 2025 4:00-5:00 pm

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 4:30-5:30 pm

Wednesday, April 09, 2025 4:30-5:30 pm

Wednesday, May 07, 2025 4:00-5:00 pm

Session #2: A Deep Dive Into the Most Used Tech Tools

Facilitated by Kerry Gallagher, JD, Education Director of ConnectSafely.org and St. John’s Prep

Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning.

January 9th, 6:00pm

MS/HS Learning Commons

Appropriate for families at all levels

Please RSVP to help us plan for space needs: bit.ly/MERSDwellness (You do not have to have attended session 1 to join us - all are welcome!)

The Open Door Food Truck will visit Essex Elementary School and Manchester Memorial Elementary School. This resource is available for anyone in the Community. For more information about The Open Door please visit their website.

36 Lincoln St., Manchester, MA 01944

https://www.mersd.org/

Phone 978.526.4919

Fax 978.526.7585