O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

In a flip-flop that was as unsurprising as it was disingenuous, Mayor Jay Ruais ditched his opposition to building a new Beech Street School, enabling the $80-plus million project to move forward.

When he voted “no” last November, Ruais said he wanted “the opportunity to revisit with the district and the city and have further conversations on this because I think there’s a great deal of uncertainty from the conversations I’ve had with members on the board and what we’ve heard from people in the audience.”

There was no uncertainty among the Republicans who voted “no.”  They didn’t want it but Ruais played for time, hoping to flip the vote of at least one GOP alderman.  I say that because I have been made aware of his efforts to do just that and he succeeded, once again, with Ward 1 Alderman Chris Morgan, who he also pressured to abandon efforts to bring forth a budget that didn’t raise taxes, resulting in the largest increase in taxes and spending since the Baines Administration.

After two hours of public testimony at the BMA on January 21, Ruais gave cover to Morgan’s yet-to-be announced flip by announcing his support for the project.  In doing so, he made several statements that were misleading or false, trying to make the case that his hands were tied.

It started with specious statements that he “did not support the project when it came forward in 2023” and that if he had been mayor, “this is not how I would have chosen to spend the extra $35 million in adequacy aid.”  If that’s true, why didn’t he say so publicly?  There is no record of him saying this at any public meeting.  There is no press release, newsletter or other campaign material sharing this alleged opposition.  If he said so in any interview or public forum, all of which were recorded, why hasn’t he made it publicly available to prove he’d opposed it?

Ruais also said that the project “was passed toward the end of 2023 before the new Board of Mayor and Aldermen had the opportunity to sit down as well.”  Though true, he ignores the fact that he sat silently in the Aldermanic Chambers as the $306 million Phase 1, which included a new Beech Street School, was hurriedly rammed through the BMA, before the new board was seated.

He could have easily asked the board to table it until the new board was seated so that he and the incoming aldermen, five of which were new, could assess the project since they were the ones who were going to have to deal with its budgetary impacts.  He could have organized the incoming aldermen to do the same.  Ruais intentionally did neither, I was told by an aide, because some GOP aldermen wanted it to pass so they didn’t have to vote on it.  After speaking with every Republican alderman-elect, that statement was found not to be true.  There wasn’t one of them that supported Phase 1.  Some even said the mayor discouraged their opposition because “the optics opposing schools were bad.”

From there, Ruais used the school district’s bogus alternatives to this project. to fret over the fate of the students now in modular classrooms to claim that building a new Beech Street School was the only viable option.  Absent in his comparisons was the 2021 facilities study that provided estimates to upgrade the suitability (functionality), condition, and technology infrastructure of every school at a fraction of the cost.  According to that study, for the $81.5 million cost of a new Beech Street School, Wilson, Beech and the 15 other schools in need of attention could have been completely renovated with money to spare.  Why was this ignored?

That question is all the more important now that Ruais appears to have ruled out the $2.3 BILLION Phase 2, meant to overhaul the district’s remaining 15 schools.  Are we to believe that nothing will be done with those 15 schools that are in need of improvements that go beyond routine maintenance and repair?  Is he saying he opposes improvements to those schools, most of which are decades older than Beech, some of which are of Wilson’s vintage, and most of which serve populations that are just as racially diverse and impoverished, or cater to students with significant special needs?  It’s not believable.

If, as the mayor says, “good policy makes good politics,” what are we to make of all this?

Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? Thoughtful prose on topics of general interest are welcome for consideration. Send to publisher@inklink.news, subject line: The Soapbox.

Rich Girard was a member of the Manchester Board of School Committee from 2016 to 2020, where he served on the Finance, Buildings and Sites, Redistricting, Negotiations, Superintendent Search, and Curriculum and Instruction committees.  He ran for mayor in 2021.