Welcome to Concord, Chris O’Connor, as a long-time critic of Concord and the school districts excessive and wasteful spending policies, welcome to the club, Concord needs your help. Concord has two endangered species, young families who can’t afford the rents owing partially to high property taxes and the elderly who are being taxed out of their homes. Cost had nothing to do with the decision to site the middle school in the Broken Ground. DEI has infected the school board and was the prime decision mover. Not included in the cost estimate are the cost for roads, water, sewer, sidewalks, and traffic signals which are the sole cost responsibility of the school district not the city. Penacook residents should be alert to this just in case the city council goes wobbly and agrees to fund this fiasco putting Penacook residents on the hook.
A comparison to Nashua’s $100 million new school to Concord should explain the difference. Nashua has a mayor and alderman governance system who approved the siting and bonding for the new school with community support. Concord’s totally autonomous school board, only one in NH and for good reason, made the decision without community support. We don’t have recall petitions and the only way to change the school board is through elections and by the time that comes again it will be too late unless lightning strikes and the board comes to its senses and reconsiders. Good luck with that.
Robert C. Washburn
Concord