The Concord School District asked members of the community to suggest names for its new middle school. More than any other option, they said they liked the old one.
Roughly 722 responses were counted as a result of the district’s callout across roughly six weeks at the end of last winter.
Of them, 195 asked that the new school carry over the name of the current one, honoring five-decade district Superintendent Louis Rundlett. While this plurality is less than a third of the overall submissions, it was far and away the most popular. It, therefore, also won the endorsement of current Superintendent Tim Herbert.
“It is the will of the people who participated in this,” he said.
Residents remain attached to both Rundlett as a person and the 70-year history of the junior-high-turned-middle-school that memorializes him.
“It was named Rundlett, after a man who devoted his life to making education great in the city,” one resident wrote. “THAT means something. Or it does to those of us born and raised in this city with a long family history of attending the school.”
Others noted that keeping the same name would mean the district could continue to use the same jerseys, signage, letterhead and other hallmarks. Replacing those things would cost money at a time when the district has little of it to spare.
Per district policy, the superintendent makes a formal recommendation to the board. The school board is expected to hold a public hearing on the question and have further discussion at future meetings – in short, nothing is decided yet.
The district anonymized submissions, but categorized each one as coming from a student, parent, community member, alum or other connection. There were some trends in each group.
A memo from Herbert, though, noted that many of the Rundlett suggestions were pulled from social media comments and emails rather than from the district’s direct suggestion form, where the name had less than 25% support.
This “strongly suggests that the Rundlett campaign was organized through social
media and community networks rather than emerging independently from a broad cross-section of residents,” he wrote.
The other name with sizeable backing was simply, “Concord Middle School,” getting 115 submissions.
The main strength of this option was its identifiability, per a summary from Herbert. As a citywide school, it’s not necessarily clear to those outside Concord where the students who go to Rundlett, or play on its sports teams, are from. There’s also a hometown pride that comes with wearing the city’s name.
“When you’re visiting Manchester schools or you’re visiting Goffstown, they know you’re Concord Middle School,” he said. “Rundlett – where is Rundlett?”
The straightforward Concord name had strong support from parents and students. Others noted, though, that with the existing Christa McAuliffe School, it would mean two district schools with the same acronym, CMS.
Other, less widespread suggestions honored figures in recent city or school history.
A prominent suggestion among district staff, with 35 submissions, was to name the new school after former Superintendent Kathleen Murphy, who passed away on the first day of school last year after a brief illness.
Similarly, a few dozen suggested naming the school after former CHS principal Gene Connolly. Several pointed to beloved former teachers, including Rundlett math teacher Ray Trombley, who died suddenly in 1993 and Michele Bartlett, who died in 2020.
A small group listed potential names that would honor Native American roots of the region, like Abenaki or Pannukog.
Nearly 30 identical suggestions called to name the School “Reid” after Steve and Wendy Reid, a Concord couple murdered in 2022.
Other notable people nominated as potential namesakes included astronaut Alan Shepard, Supreme Court Justice David Souter, Senator John Parker Hale, longtime state Senator Sylvia Larsen, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Fritz Weatherbee and Matt Bonner – including a straightforward suggestion of “Matt Bonner Middle School” and the more lighthearted “Red Mamba Middle School.”
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was a popular nomination from students, though it was excluded from the district’s formal count – as were other unrelated or “joke” submissions, like one suggesting “Spirit Halloween.”
With Herbert’s endorsement, the existing Rundlett name is a clear frontrunner.
Concord has historically leaned on local historical figures as namesakes for its lower schools, though others have pointed to geographic features, like Beaver Meadow. The district policy requires only that the name be “a unique identifier to promote and represent a school’s location or identity.”
