Christ the King Parish Gets Rumford School for $600K

Two historic changes came to the tail end of the Concord School District’s elementary school consolidation plan this week.

On Dec. 17, the Concord School Board voted to officially transfer the Dame Elementary School to the city of Concord. It also voted to sell the Rumford Elementary School to Christ the King Parish, the city’s collection of Catholic churches.

The district will receive $600,000 for Rumford School, much less than the $2.7 million appraised value district officials and school board members presumed it would receive for the building during the elementary school consolidation study process. The sale also breaks a verbal agreement board members made to members of the community that the vacant schools would be sold to for-profit entities that would expand the tax base, since Christ the King Parish does not pay property taxes on its holdings, according to the city's Assessing Department.

The district will recieve $1 from the city for Dame, which previously had an appraised value of $4.9 million.

The Catholic parish plans on expanding St. John Regional School, currently located a few blocks away, at the site.

As part of the sale, the church agreed not to change the historic façade of the school, which was originally constructed in 1902.

The city will receive Dame at a Dec. 31, closing.

The city of Concord will pay the school district $1 for the building while the city will allow the district to use the Concord City Auditorium twice a year for free as well as an indoor turf field which may be built at the school in the future. The agreement stated that ownership would revert back to the school district if the city no longer used it for municipal purposes.

The city plans to construct a community center on the site in the future but will use it for “recreational programming” right away.

Concord Mayor Jim Bouley called the school “an important community asset” and said he was glad both entities could reach a deal on a transfer.

Concord School District Superintendent Chris Rath said the reason the board transferred the property to the city was that it realized during listening sessions that residents wanted a community center on the site.