Concord School Officials Discuss New Rundlett Grade Configuration

CONCORD, NH — The Concord School District is hosting three meetings next week to speak with parents about grade configuration preference in a new or renovated middle school project, according to Kathleen Murphy, the district’s school superintendent.

Currently, the school is configured sixth-to-eighth grade; the district is considering moving to a fifth-to-eighth grade setup, to free up room in the city’s elementary schools. After spending $90.8 million on an elementary school consolidation project, the new schools — Abbot-Downing and McAuliffe elementary schools and the Mill Brook Primary School, were essentially obsolete when they opened and did not have as much room as needed to house full-day kindergarten students. The three schools were built to only house half-day K students. The district implemented full-day K in 2018, after a push in the community to make it an issue, even though the district put it on hold for a year because it had to spend millions of dollars to install natural gas lines to heat some of the city’s schools in the wake of the Concord Steam bankruptcy.

As the district eyes whether to build a new middle school or possibly renovate the old one, it is also looking to free up space at the elementary schools.

The meetings will be held in-person at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 8, in the Beaver Meadow School gymnasium and at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, in the Abbot-Downing Elementary School gymnasium. An online or phone session will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 16. To login online, visit this link; to call-in, visit 1 925-391-1169, 254471154#. Phone Conference ID: 254 471 154#.

TB Tests Saturday, December

After a case of tuberculosis was found connected to the Concord High School community, the district is working with health officials to administer testing for anyone who is interested.

The first round of testing was done on Thursday. A second round will be done from 9 a.m. to noon. More testing will be done on Dec. 15, and Dec. 17.

Murphy thanked both Drs. Elizabeth Talbot and James Noble, epidemiologists, for providing guidance and medical advice to staff, students, and families.

For more information, visit the district’s TB info site, linked here.

Rapid Antigen Test Update

The school district will be resuming rapid antigen testing after the state received more rapid antigen testing kits.

According to Murphy, the district is scheduled to receive its kits in the middle of November.

COVID-19 Shots For 5 to 11

SAU 8 will be sponsoring COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech shot clinics on Tuesday, Nov. 16, and Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The shots will be provided by staff from the Capital Area Health Network medical personnel. More details and specifics will be forthcoming.

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