Education is likely to be a key issue, as the race for mayor of New Hampshire’s largest city takes shape.
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas made it official last week that he plans to run for a third, two-year term.
At a fundraiser to kick off his re-election campaign, he said Manchester’s schools are the best in the state.
And he said concerns about overcrowding in city classrooms are overstated.
“We have 272 classes at the high school level that have less than 15 kids in them. So if we kind of, sort of looked at what we could do to change the complexion of classes, do some virtual learning, do some Skyping, I think our class size would come down.”
While the filing period isn’t until next month, Ward 12 Alderman Patrick Arnold plans to challenge Gatsas for the seat.
Arnold held his own campaign kickoff fundraiser last week.
He says the city’s school district is heading in the wrong direction.
“We’re currently in litigation with surrounding communities because they want to send their children elsewhere to be educated. This past school year, we had over 200 classes that failed to meet the state’s minimum standards when it comes to class sizes.”
Manchester’s municipal election is scheduled for November.
