Concerns raised over unexpected elementary school basketball changes

MANCHESTER, NH – Concern over public school elementary basketball arose at Tuesday’s Board of School Committee (BOSC) meeting after apparently unexpected changes to this season’s format were creating concerns.

Several coaches and other people related to elementary school basketball spoke out during the meeting’s public comment section of the meeting over the changes, which would eliminate player cuts to teams, excluding an end-of-season citywide tournament. In previous years, cut players were given the opportunity to play on intramural recreational teams.

These individuals believed that the sheer number of children on each team would cause safety concerns given limited space in elementary school gyms, and that none of the children would learn any skills given the lack of attention each coach could give to each child due to the team sizes that could approach 40 players.

There were also concerns with fifth-grade students at middle schools who did not make it onto middle school teams but had not been made aware of elementary school opportunities since half of the city’s middle schools do not currently have fifth-grade students.

Manchester School Department Assistant Superintendent Forrest Ransdell said that the changes came as part of an attempt to build a broader feeder program for the city’s high school basketball programs, noting that the girls’ basketball teams at Manchester Central and Manchester West are on the verge of collapse due to lack of participation.

Ransdell stated that in the proposed format, players would get a mix of skills training and intramural contests, with players selected from each school for the two-week citywide tournament.

He also added that unlike nearby cities and towns, Manchester does not have a true recreational league, but privately-run “recreational opportunities” for general-access elementary school-level basketball.

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig was unaware how or where these changes were made and felt that was inappropriate, a sentiment shared by BOSC Members Ben Dion (Ward 8), Julie Turner (Ward 1) and Peter Argeropoulos (At-Large).

Turner said she “100 percent rejected” the proposal given the lack of transparency, with this proposal not discussed during planning for the return of elementary school basketball that was discussed last year among the board, also expressing frustration over the community that build up among families within the basketball program that could be jeopardized.

Dion echoed the impact that the size of teams would have on individual players and Argeropoulos criticized the proposal’s impact on helping players and added concerns related to transparency.

“If something as major as this is going on and we don’t know about it, what else is going on that we don’t know about?” said Argeropoulos.

No members contested the frustration with the lack of transparency over the decision, with some saying they only learned about the decision just hours prior to the meeting. However, Dr. Nicole Leapley (Ward 11), Jim O’Connell (At-Large), Gary Hamer (Ward 10) and Peter Perich (Ward 8) echoed Ransdell’s concerns about the need to make scholastic sports more accessible to students.

O’Connell compared Manchester to Nashua, which he said has 1,000 participants in its elementary school basketball program. Hamer and Leapley also hoped to find a happy medium were advanced players and rudimentary players can find opportunities in separate leagues, but more players could join these leagues.

Ken Tassey (Ward 6) asked if the proposal could be stopped immediately, with Manchester Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Gillis indicating that a presentation will be provided on Oct. 23.