On December 6, 2023, in its final session of the year and against overwhelming public opinion, the Concord School Board voted 6-3 to build a $176 million middle school at Broken Ground rather than at the current site of Rundlett Middle School.

Crucial financial, design, construction, traffic, and safety data on which that vote was based, and on which the present school board is now proceeding, was either erroneous, or inadequate, or overlooked, especially the costs of busing, sidewalks, parking, and other infrastructure, as well as the amount of building aid. This will result in additional strain on already overburdened taxpayers and adverse effects on the environment.

Whereas,

(1)   $176 million is a significantly large amount of taxpayer money, and a pause and change in the process will not adversely impact the reception of building aid;

(2)   two school board members who voted for Broken Ground, one of whom was appointed not elected, did so at the final meeting of their term;

(3)   the decision to build at Broken Ground was made in direct opposition to the clearly, conspicuously, publicly expressed majority opinion;

We, the undersigned, call upon the Concord School Board to rescind the 2023 board’s decision to build a new middle school at Broken Ground and instead to revisit rebuilding or renovating the middle school at the present site of Rundlett Middle School or at another location.