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IMPORTANT NOTE:  
A group called the "Concerned Citizens for Concord (CCC)" is actively calling upon the Concord School Board to rescind the 2023 board’s decision to build a new middle school at Broken Ground and instead to RENOVATE the middle school at the present site of Rundlett Middle School or at another location.  Members of Concord Concerned Citizens have changed the independent school board’s charter to require the relocation of any school and the sale of any district property to be authorized by a voter referendum. 
Concord Greenspace is not affiliated with this effort.  The CCC's website is here. 
Reaffirming Our Stance - Build a NEW Middle School at Rundlett

If you've been following the Middle School rebuilding conversation, you will know that Concord Greenspace's original stance favored Rebuilding@Rundlett because this option most closely aligns with our focuses of Smart Growth, Sustainable Development, and Local Climate Action.  However, once the School Board voted to build a new school at Broken Ground, we felt it was beneficial to the overall community to accept and support that choice.  We declined to fight the decision because we believed educating students in a new building that's conducive to learning, as soon as possible, was the ultimate goal. The 2024 Ballot Amendments changed things... 


The passage of those ballot measures by over 60% of the votes made clear that a majority of the population either didn’t favor the School Board’s choice of the Broken Ground location and/or wanted a greater say in decisions regarding school locations. As a result, the School Board, who have stated time and again that building at Broken Ground is most likely the cheapest, fastest, and least disruptive site option, will once again vote on the location of the new middle school.


Concord Greenspace acknowledges that the disruption to current students, teachers, parents, and administrators during construction will be greater at Rundlett than Broken Ground, but this needs to be put in the context of the lifespan of the new school.  This decision will have lasting impacts on the whole community for several decades.


The School Board has scheduled a Public Hearing about the two locations on Wednesday January 22, 6:00 pm at the Concord High School Auditorium.  The meeting will consist of public comment, followed by School Board discussion and a final vote on location for the new school.  It is important for everyone to have their voice heard and to attend if possible! If you are unable to attend, send emails to: info@sau8.org and request that your email be forwarded to the entire school board and supporting staff.   

 

For a deeper dive check out our latest blog post here.

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Middle School Location - Public Hearing:

  • Wednesday, January 22nd

  • 6pm

  • Concord High School

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A Deeper Dive:

We believe Smart Growth, Sustainable Development, and Local Climate Action did not receive proper consideration during the School Board’s initial decision making process. When those principles are accounted for it is clear that the Rundlett site is the best location.  The following items demonstrate how choosing the Rundlett site meets the criteria of Smart Growth, Sustainable Development, and Local Climate Action. 

 

Impact to Public Infrastructure

  • Rebuild@Rundlett reuses the existing public infrastructure needed to support a new middle school, including existing public roads, water, and sewer.

  • McKee Square (the intersection of Clinton Street, Broadway and South Street - half a mile from Rundlett School)  is slated to have state-funded safety and capacity upgrades in the near future, improving traffic flows and increasing pedestrian safety in this area. 

 

Safety 

  • 4 Fire stations are within  2 ½  miles of the current Rundlett location (3 in Concord and 1 in Bow) 

  • Existing and future Concord Police Stations are within 2 ½ miles from the Rundlett site.

  • Neighborhood watch effect. 

    • Having people home on all sides of the school during off hours when the school is unoccupied, and having the school occupied during the day while most residents are not home, reinforces everyone's security.

 

Equity 

  • Building the school at Broken Ground, which is in the wealthiest census tract in the city, increases inequity within our community. While a good number of economically disadvantaged students live within 2 miles of Broken Ground, they are separated from the school site by an interstate highway.

  • Only the small number of students who live in the immediate vicinity of the Broken Ground site are able to get themselves safely to school without needing to be driven.

 

Neighborhood support

  • It is rare that a group of residents abutting a large development project come to a developer (the school board) and voluntarily ask for their neighborhood to be turned into a construction site. The residents surrounding Rundlett are saying loudly that any temporary inconvenience due to construction is worth reusing this property as the location for the school district's new middle school.This alone shows remarkable support for the school to be rebuilt at its current site.

 

Community Integration 

  • As some school board members have mentioned, Rundlett’s current location allows for much more robust collaboration with the other facilities in our community. Middle schoolers could take high school classes and high schoolers can mentor middle schoolers athletically and academically, without needing separate transport. 

  • Within 1.5 miles of the Rundlett site are: Concord High School, Memorial Field, Rollins Park, Martin Park, The Federal District Courthouse of NH, Concord District Courthouse, State of NH Library, NH Historical Society, Concord Public Library, City Hall, Merrimack County Superior Courthouse, and Concord’s Wastewater Treatment Facility, just to name of few of the available learning experiences that are within walking distance. 

  • The streets surrounding the Rundlett site have ample sidewalks and slower traffic, giving parents the comfort to allow their middle-schoolers more independence to walk or bike to local businesses after school with their friends. 

 

Future Planning

  • Building at Rundlett preserves the Broken Ground site for any of the future needs that the school board has discussed, such as expanded preschool and Concord Regional Technical Center (CRTC) facilities.

  • The Broken Ground property would remain available to be developed as athletic fields,or any other facility the district may need in the future. 

 

Environmental Impact

  • The proposed rebuilding plan at the Rundlett site eliminates the current pollution to Bow Brook from driveway and parking lot stormwater runoff, which benefits not only the new school, but the entire surrounding neighborhood.

  • The plan provides for compact and efficient use of the land available, a tenet of Smart Growth. 

  • The Rundlett site is convenient and easily accessible for anyone who wants to see the viability of net zero construction techniques.

 

Economic Impact

  • Concord’s South End is an existing, walkable, mixed-use neighborhood with many stores owned by Concord residents. Many of their employees are also Concord residents.

  • These businesses, such as Flanagan's (formerly Cimos), Milanos, Man Yee, South End Market, and Tuckers (to name a few) utilize local banks, local tax preparers, and advertise in local media outlets. These South End businesses would lose valuable foot and vehicle traffic if the school were to be moved away from the Rundlett location.

  • If the Broken Ground site is chosen, the foot and vehicle traffic lost by the South End businesses would be gained by the overwhelming majority of national franchise businesses that line Loudon Road. These franchised businesses outsource most administrative tasks to their parent organizations and therefore they typically do not patronize other local businesses.

 

Unknowns

  • Development at Broken Ground would create a significant amount of unfunded permanent municipal liabilities that haven’t yet been discussed.  These include new pavement, sewer, water, storm drain, traffic management, and athletic field maintenance. What impact will this likely have on Concord’s future property tax burden? 

CG3 Statement on Rebuild @ Rundlett - December 2024

Concord Greenspace (CG3) is truly grateful to every community member who engaged in the process around the new middle school location. Some individuals have been involved and advocating since May 2022. We share your disappointment and frustration with the process and a decision that ignored the vast majority of the public input received.  While we may not have landed where we had hoped, that does not mean that our efforts were in vain! This movement was an inspiring example of the power of average citizens to educate themselves, engage in the civic process, and to show up for what we value. We will not win on every issue, but we will keep working to hold our elected officials accountable, and we hope you do as well.​

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Our organization has decided to move forward as we believe this to be in the best interest of the students. We know that a new school is urgently needed and securing State funding is vitally important; our efforts have not interfered with the process of obtaining funding for the rebuild but moving forward we are cautious of delaying or jeopardizing State aid. CG3 is not leaving this issue behind and we plan to remain engaged.  Several of our members sit on the various Middle School Project committees.


As the process to build a new middle school for Concord continues, we will hold the School Board accountable to the goals and reasons they gave for relocating the school to Broken Ground including:

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  • Improving equity in clear and measurable ways, such as

    • improving communication and outreach to hard-to-reach families,

    • facilitating opportunities for a larger portion of community members to participate in school events,

    • promoting inclusion and belonging when designing the physical space,

  • Intentionally incorporating outdoor education into curricular goals,

  • Seeking to optimize costs at each step of the process and maintaining financial transparency for taxpayers including accounting for the utility and roadway costs that are not included in the School Board's cost projections but are nevertheless funded by City taxpayers (while recognizing that costs are not always the sole driver of the School Board’s decisions),

  • Guiding the community through the transition to the new Middle School location in the months leading up to the move and throughout the first years of the new space, and

  • Minimizing the disruption to students, parents, faculty and administration at Rundlett Middle, Mill Brook and Broken Ground Schools.

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We will also hold them to account for the values CG3 holds : smart growth, equitable development and climate action:

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  • Providing bus transportation for all students living more than 1 mile from school, thereby reducing the mandatory walking radius for middle school students to 1 mile from 1.5 mile,

  • Establishing Safe Routes to School and incorporating those pathways into the project; this school should not open without vetted and safe pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure,

  • Minimizing environmental damage by locating the building and fields on the site so that they have the LEAST impact on existing trees, trails and wildlife,

  • Responsibly managing the closure and sale of the existing Rundlett building so as not to leave a vacant and dangerous toxic structure neighboring an elementary school nor allowing development with a potential negative impact to a vital neighborhood, 

  • Involving Concord residents in the decisions made around the sale of the Rundlett Middle School property - the property is owned by the taxpayers and we should have a say in the future of that property, and

  • Transparency in governance via 

    • a public record of communications in the forms of emails, letters, surveys,

    • petitions, written accounts on which decisions are based, 

    • improved public input process,

    • increased outreach to hard-to-reach communities.

 

In addition, we will reiterate the following concerns regarding non-physical elements that were generated in the community conversations that we led last Spring (the full list can be viewed here):

 

  • Exploring merging the two school districts so that all Concord residents are within the same district,

  • Identifying core values and intentionally addressing them in the curriculum to improve building culture and safety for all students, faculty, and staff,

  • Providing a detailed timeline for bolstering school and family mental health services at the middle school,

  • Improving morale and establishing the school as a community resource,

  • Addressing racism, intolerance and hate in our public schools

  • Establishing curriculum designed to build K-8 connections, and

  • Prioritizing safety and security of students in school design.

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CG3 worked as hard as we could on this effort. Pending any additional information coming to light, this will conclude our efforts on school location.  We will continue to engage with the Concord School District, School Board, and community to promote greater accountability and transparency. We will be continuing to follow this process to ensure that the school district makes decisions that live up to their stated aims and our values related to the safety of students, environmental impacts, and traffic concerns. We thank you again for your support and leadership. 


With Gratitude,

The CG3 Team

Final Hearings R_R (2).png

Rebuild @ Rundlett - Part 2

Middle School Rebuild

Concord Greenspace has played an active role advocating for sustainable development of the new middle school since May 2022.  In October of 2022, with the Centerpoint Church property off the table, we pivoted our campaign to focus on community discussions around the rebuild and to advocate for equitable development options. On July 10, 2023, after months of exploring potential sites for a new middle school, the Concord School District presented two locations to the School Board for discussion: the Broken Ground School site or the Rundlett Middle School site.  Now, with over a year of holding community discussions, listening sessions, talking to community members and leaders, knocking on doors on the Heights, attending School Board meetings, Capital Facilities meetings, and the official public hearings, we feel that the Concord community has spoken and the overwhelming majority wants to rebuild at Rundlett.  


We understand that there are two more pieces of information required to make a final decision: cost and the traffic study at Broken Ground.  Barring an enormous change in the anticipated cost at the two sites and knowing that the traffic zone at Broken Ground is already a deep concern, Concord Greenspace echoes the voices of the Concord community in advocating for rebuilding the middle school at Rundlett’s current site.  


Here are the factors in this decision:

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  • The voice of the Concord community

  • Sustainable Development - Rebuilding at Rundlett utilizes existing city infrastructure which is more economically resilient and has less environmental impact. Building at the existing site meets 7 of the 10 Principles of Smart Growth outlined by Smart Growth America.

  • It is a walkable and bikeable location with proven traffic infrastructure.

  • If the Broken Ground site had safe accessibility from the Heights and student walkers didn’t have to cross a major highway interchange, we’d be advocating for equitable development, however, it does not. It feels performative to call the Broken Grounds site “equitable development”.   Improving equitable access to our schools is an issue that we implore the School Board to address head on. In the words of a Concord resident, “Simply dropping the school on the east side does not solve the equity issues of our district.” 

  • Rebuilding at Rundlett maintains student proximity to the resources on the West Side of the city: public library, Main Street business district, Concord High School, the athletic practice spaces at Memorial Field and city parks like Rollins and Martin.

  • The construction impact on students will be as minimal as other highly successful Concord School District construction projects (including the Abbott Downing/Conant Project). At the June 17, 2022 Capital Facilities meeting the District’s lead architect stated that that none of the existing Rundlett building needs to be touched during construction at the Rundlett site.  Students will have normal, everyday use of the Rundlett building.  Zero portable classrooms are needed - thus none of the associated costs.  The plan includes appropriate setbacks to abutters. Conveniently, the current gymnasium and Activity Room are positioned to buffer any construction vibrations. 

  • The majority of residents living near the Broken Ground Site demonstrably do NOT want the middle school in their neighborhood whereas those living close to  the Rundlett site demonstrably DO want the middle school in their neighborhood.

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As strong supporters of public input and civic engagement, Concord Greenspace was taken aback at the last Middle School work session when, in response to several members urging to increase community engagement,  the Superintendent cautioned the school board that if they “take the temperature” of public sentiment on the middle school location, they would have to be “responsive to that viewpoint” (hour 1:45). The Concord School District has an unusual level of power within the State of New Hampshire in that they are not required to have this expenditure approved by anyone else, including the voters. We have placed an extraordinarily high level of trust in this school board. They have told their constituents that they care about their opinions, promising more public hearings before making a final decision. 


Concord Greenspace would like to thank the School Board for all their hard work on this project and we would like to remind them that they are the elected representatives of this community, and the community has taken the time and the effort to learn the facts and communicate their opinions around the Middle School Project. With a strong voice, the community has said both that they do not want the new middle school at Broken Ground and that they instead want it in its current location. These are our neighborhoods, our children’s schools, and our taxes that will pay for this $170+ million dollar project.  


Specifically, we call on the School Board to:

  1. Hold another Public Hearing without delay when the costs and traffic study becomes available.

  2. Put out a fact-based District-wide Survey Monkey on the Middle School sites (like was done many times during the Covid Pandemic) that includes teachers and publicly publish the results.

  3. Conduct a work session that focuses on community input where architects answer school board member’s questions and speak to the Rundlett site. 

 

NEXT STEPS:

  • Email the School Board and Superintendent Murphy (see the email guide below with email addresses to cut and paste)

  • Put out your R@R yard sign. 

  • Call or email your School Board member today. 

 

Make your voice heard.


Gratefully, 

The Concord Greenspace Coalition


 
EMAIL GUIDE

 

Cut and paste School Board members' emails:

cmeeker@sau8.org, rcotton@sau8.org, bhastings@sau8.org, bhiggins@sau8.org, jrichards@sau8.org, srobinson@sau8.org, pwalsh@sau8.org, jweinberg@sau8.org, tcroteau@sau8.org


Email Guide:

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“Dear Concord School Board members and Superintendent Kathleen Murphy,

My name is _____________ and I am a resident of the Concord School District Zone __.


I strongly support the call to build the new middle school at the current Rundlett site.  My reasons for this are ________ (use your own reasoning and/or select 2-3 key points from above). 

Hold another Public Hearing without delay when the costs and traffic study becomes available.

Put out a fact-based District-wide Survey Monkey on the Middle School sites (like was done many times during the Covid Pandemic) that includes teachers and publicly publish the results.

Conduct a work session that focuses on community input where architects answer school board member’s questions and speak to the Rundlett site. 

We elected you to represent us and our concerns. Please do so with integrity and transparency.

Rebuild at Rundlett! 


Sincerely,


Your Name”

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Rebuild @ Rundlett

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