Weare school board members are concerned the recent snowfall has only temporarily dampened ongoing disturbances at the middle school’s skateboard park.
According to Weare school board member Marjorie Burke, the board has been aware of fights and vandalism of school property at the park since the fall, when the Weare police chief and the Weare Middle School principal went before them at a Sept. 20 board meeting. According to Burke, the park is located next to a community playground, and there have also been complaints of young children being exposed to profanity.
According to minutes from that meeting, the town is responsible for the skate park, but the park is located on school property, and the school has been taking care of repairs as needed. The park is open from 6 a.m. till dusk when school is not in session, according the town’s website.
The school board voted to draft a letter to the select board, but Burke said they had not heard back from the select board until she attended a Dec. 12 meeting, when she asked the board to come up with some meeting dates to discuss the issue. Select board chairman Keith Lacasse said the board is currently discussing dates they could meet, but had not settled on one yet due to ongoing budget discussions.
The problem, Burke said, is that students who frequent the park are causing the issues, and the police have video surveillance to prove it. But when school officials attempt to break up fights, students resist because they think they’re outside school property, and thus do not have to listen to officials, Burke said, adding that police are often called to break up incidents.
“We want kids to continue to have access to the skate park, but things have to improve,” Burke said. “With the fall of snow, the problems have stopped for now, but we think they will start back up again once the weather improves.”
The park has been moved around the town, Lacasse said. Though he was not sure if the park was previously close to the where the middle school is now, he remembers the park being moved near Quaker Street until the new middle school was built in 2007. After that, a group of Weare residents got together to move the park back to the center of town, near the school.
A call to Weare police was not immediately returned.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)