Higgins: Is Rushing To Rename Rundlett In The Best Interest Of The Concord Community At The Present Time?

The newly seated Concord School Board recently had its January retreat.

An annual event, it serves to train newly elected members in board protocol as well as give the board a chance to set goals and discuss current happenings in the district.

Obviously, the middle school came up in conversation. There was much discussion about the process, the money, and all that goes into building a school. What also came up was whether or not it should be renamed.

Pam Walsh, board president, has been quite vocal in support of changing the name, and while I do not know her motivation behind the push, the board discussion was robust on all sides of the topic.

Newcomer Madeline Mineau spoke about Louis Rundlett and what she had learned about him through her own research. She questioned, given his service to the district, especially in the construction of new schools, whether changing his name was a good idea.

There are board members who are not overly attached to the name situation, those who would like to see it stay the same, and those who seem determined to have it changed. At the culmination of the discussion, it was decided there would be a community discussion about it.

Let me be clear: based on our discussion, the board, superintendent, and communications director did not decide that a name change would actually be imposed on the city. It was not left as a given. Imagine my surprise when I received Public Information Officer Terry Wolf's announcement from School Superintendent Tim Herbert that the middle school would have a new name.

When I questioned the inaccuracy of this announcement, I was met with a touch of word salad.

My initial objection was that the announcement made it sound as if there would only be a new name, and that keeping it Rundlett was off the table. The announcement made it sound like the decision to change the name had already been made.

THIS WAS NOT HOW WE LEFT THINGS AT THE BOARD RETREAT.

My next objection is that if a resident was not connected to the district in some way, the announcement would not find them.

Teachers and parents received the “chance to be a part of the re-naming,” but not general residents. (This is now somewhat rectified)

My final one was the time stamp. All suggestions must be in by Feb. 20.

Ground will not be broken for several months; completion is slated for several years. There is no reason to insist on a name change right now.

In my conversation with Herbert, he denied that the name change was a given and that people could choose Rundlett as the “new name.” Well, Rundlett is NOT a new name, and the announcement did not ask for community participation on this decision; it simply said, You have two weeks to submit your idea for the new name. Recent conversations among board members and administration about this also sought to minimize the intent of this message.

At a time when the community is already divided and quite unsupportive of the school board, this is a public relations fiasco.

To submit a new name for Rundlett Middle School or express support for keeping the name as it is, click this link.

Eight of the nine board members included “creating a better relationship with the public” as a goal for the school board at this year's retreat. Nothing about the wording of this announcement set that tone. It came across as another community-wide decision made by a small group.

When I received the announcement. I was utterly befuddled. Whoever wrote this announcement missed the mark entirely.

So, what do we do?

1. We take the time limit off this discussion and let the community have time to digest the potential change.
2. We take time, publicly, to review suggestions from people or places we could name the building after. Meaning Herbert actually shares the results of the online survey with the public and creates time for dialogue.
3. The board takes the time to learn the history of the schools in the town it claims to love, including the rich history of Rundlett, both the man and the school.
4. We rewrite the survey announcement with accurate historical information and remove the implication that it can no longer be called Rundlett.
5. We, as a board, focus on the budget and allow this naming process to play out in an actual, inclusive way over the next several months.

While I have some feelings on the matter, for me, this isn’t about the name of the new middle school. It is about the perceived arrogance of the board members and administrators involved in trying to justify the nature of the announcement.

There is no mandate, no RSA, no insistence that a new building replacing an old one must be renamed. Many of Concord’s former schools carried their names to relocations and rebuilds several times over.

Here is what I suggest citizens do after reading this article.

1. Email your board representative and share your feelings.
2. Fill out the survey and share your preferred name for the new middle school. This CAN include Rundlett.
3. Attend meetings and speak at public comment.

When I left Concord for college in 1981, there were 10 elementary schools in Concord: Millville, Garrison, Eastman, Broken Ground, Dame, Walker, Kimball, Dewey, Rumford, and Conant. The Morrill School, which stood behind Kimball, had been decommissioned several years prior. It was a trades school as well as a school for children with developmental disabilities. It had been the SAU offices for decades.

When I returned in 1989, Garrison had been closed, sold, and replaced with Beaver Meadow. Dewey had been closed and combined with Kimball. Millville had been closed (and sold) and combined with Conant. We were down to eight. Thankfully, those three beautiful buildings still stand.

In 2012, then-School Superintendent Christine Rath bulldozed upon the community an elementary consolidation project that erased history, decimated two neighborhoods, and changed the neighborhood nature of education Concord had always enjoyed and celebrated.

The promises of lower education costs and better test scores did not follow.

Walker and Rumford Schools were closed and sold.

Kimball and Conant were demolished and replaced with new schools, each with a new name: Abbott-Downing and Christa McAuliffe.

Dame and Eastman were closed and replaced with Millbrook.

Dame was sold to the city for $1, and Eastman remains a district-owned property.

We now have five elementary schools, although in true transparency, Millbrook and Broken Ground are one K-5 community, just in two buildings.

We cannot celebrate creating history as the school district announcement says, if we insist on erasing or demolishing it to do so.

In 2027, it will be 100 years since Louis Rundlett put together an education structure in Concord that lasted generations. He was still the superintendent when the Concord High School on Spring Street became the first Rundlett Junior High School.

His community named it for him and his lifetime dedication to Concord students and the buildings in which they learned. When the current building was erected in 1957, the name followed the students.

If we are to rename our middle school, my only suggestion is that it be named after someone who has demonstrated the integrity and devotion shown by Louis Rundlett. It cannot be a politically motivated choice; it cannot be a popularity contest among those who feel they hold local power.

It must come from transparent conversation, not a one-sided announcement that catches a community by surprise.

It can also remain Rundlett and preserve what little educational history remains in Concord.

Barbara Higgins is an at-large Concord board of education member and the longest-serving member.