Neighborhood Schools and Concord's Future

A shrinking elementary school population and technology advancements have required the Concord School District to consolidate five elementary schools into three new buildings. Five former school buildings will close and those neighborhood properties will soon be adapted for reuse. These include the Dame, Dewey, Eastman, Rumford and Walker schools. Of the five, Eastman has already closed and Dewey is temporarily or perhaps permanently home to Concord School District offices while the others will close after the 2011-2012 academic year.

Castagna Consulting Group of North Hampton has been hired to facilitate a public consensus building initiative and issue a report on the reuse options that will best fill community needs.

A comprehensive study will include all of the potential stakeholders in deciding how to put these buildings to best future use. The process will be open, transparent, approachable and easy for everyone to access. This includes public meetings, a dedicated blog, and social media as well as a direct email address and telephone line. The blog will serve as a central information hub and live-interactive journal of updates and visitor comments & questions. A Facebook community page will extend easy and immediate access online to those who enjoy using social media.

The blog URL is: www.concordnhreuseproject.com
The Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/consensusinconcord

Neighborhood listening sessions are scheduled and open to the public. All sessions will start at 6:00pm and will last two to three hours. Each session will take place at the school building according to the following schedule:

• Rumford School, 40 Thorndike St. - Sept. 27
• Dame School, 14 Canterbury Road - Sept. 29
• Walker School, 4 Church St. - Oct. 4
• Eastman School, 15 Shawmut St. - Oct. 6
• Dewey School, 38 Liberty St. - Oct. 11

Everyone from city and state officials, business and non-profit leaders to individual neighborhood residents will have ample opportunity to contribute to and influence the public discussion. Potential uses of the properties may range from housing, offices, retail, art, entertainment, non-profit, healthcare, recreation… the list goes on. A key factor for consideration is what works from a real estate marketing standpoint.

The report and recommendations are scheduled to be delivered to the Concord School District in February 2012.