IT'S SEPTEMBER -- Summer is ending, school's about to start and after a two-month hiatus we are back with this newsletter, which aspires to be the single-most comprehensive collection of news, notes and calendar items as you'll find anywhere in Manchester. In this era of information overload, it's sometimes hard to know what's going on because, well, there's so much going on. So we comb through calendars and monitor social media and extend this invitation: If you have a club or a cause or something you think everyone should know about, tell us and we'll take it from there.

Buckley Elementary is reopening after an extensive renovation and the building got rave reviews when we posted a gallery on the district FB page yesterday.

An official ribbon cutting is expected to be held on Saturday, Sept. 24 and residents/alumni etc. will have a chance to tour the building.

Out of the $93 million SMARTR2 bond referendum funds, about $27 million has gone to Buckley - and that's the full cost, not the cost for the town. Manchester gets reimbursed between 55% -65% from the state so the cost to the local taxpayers is a little under $13 million.

There's a long weekend coming up to cap a long summer but then it's back to the books:

• Tuesday, Sept. 6: The first day for students in K-4, 5, 7 and 9 plus integrated preschool and Adult and Continuing Ed.
• Wednesday, Sept. 7: The first day for all other K-12 students including everyone at MRA and Bentley.
• Monday, Sept. 12: This is the first day for our Head Start program.

SCHOOL STAFF packed Bailey Auditorium this morning for convocation after a week of professional development. That's Superintendent Matt Geary above while below from left are Mayor Jay Moran, staffers Sophia Krisch and Latasha Easterling-Turnquest, and district Teacher of the Year Jason Daniels.

• Manchester fourth graders can learn to play selected band and orchestra instruments in school this year. Now is the time to sign up so that our music teachers can communicate all of the necessary information. Here is where to find a great deal of information.

Thursday, Sept. 1

9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. -- Red Cross Blood Drive at North United Methodist Church, 300 Parker St.

2 p.m. -- Walking Book Club at Mary Cheney Library.

Saturday, Sept. 3

9 a.m.- 5 p.m. -- Lutz Farm Day at Fish Family Farm

Monday, Sept. 5

Town offices will be closed in observance of Labor Day- curbside collection will be delayed by one day for the remainder of the week.

7-8 p.m. -- Can and bottle redemption to benefit World-Wide Lighthouse Mission’s outreach program at 723 Main St.

Tuesday, Sept 6

7 p.m. -- BOD meeting at Lincoln Center

Wednesday, Sept. 7

4:30 - 7 :30 p.m. -- Farmer’s Market at Northwest Park.

• Rotary in Motion is scheduled for Oct. 1 and will again be based at Charter Oak Park. There's music and more including different bike tours including a 30-miler to East Hartford. Click for information.

• The Downtown Scarecrow Festival will be Oct. 8—29 and all the info is here (including registration information).
• The Manchester Road Race is Nov. 24 and online registration opens today. Click for more.

Also

• The Greater Hartford Disc Golf Open will be held at Wickham Park Sept. 9-11.

• On Saturday, Sept. 10 the Manchester Songwriters Association will hold its Fourth Annual Concert in Center Memorial Park.

• An "Exploring Archaeology' program is being held on Saturday Sept. 17 at the Pitkin Glass Works (the corner of Parker and Putnam) and the info is here. (And here's the form to register.)
  

• Manchester will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Day at Leisure Labs, Mahoney Rec Center on Saturday, Sept. 24. Read more here.

• Six unique Manchester houses of varied vintages will be showcased at the Sculpture Project 2022 House Tour on Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Here's more.
  

• The town modernized its Manchester Matters newsletter. To subscribe click here.

• Manchester Adult & Continuing Ed’s latest newsletter has lots of pictures and stories from the Class of ‘22’s graduation ceremony.
• Better Manchester posts news and notes regularly and has a print edition of its magazine coming soon.
• The town also debuted the Tiny Podcast and guests so far have been Ryan Parker, Susan Barlow and Bill Ludwig.

• Manchester NEXT: The town is seeking input as it works on its Plan of Conservation and Development, which will drive decisions through the next decade. Today is the deadline for the latest survey.
• Water Conservation Alert: The town last week issued this warning, because the levels of reservoirs have dropped to 77.3 percent of capacity
• Manchester has launched planning efforts for its 2023 Bicentennial Celebration and you can follow along here.

Soccer players and other athletes are gearing up for the fall season. Click to see the schedule.

RICHARD NIXON WAS PRESIDENT when Dave Brysgel started working in the school district -- hired in August 1973 as a Work Experience Coordinator at Manchester High. Doc B is now the student employment specialist for the Manchester Transition Center and a Site Administrator for Manchester Adult and Continuing Education. "A lot of my former students are retired now," he said, adding "I enjoy coming to work every day."

OneManchester is compiled by Jim Farrell of the school district's communications office; he can be reached at b11jfarr@mpspride.org or 860-268-6377. OneManchester has been published since August 2017 and features the photography of Paul Ofria. Want to subscribe? Just click here.