Boucher and Rundlett
Recent letters that describe Liz Boucher as listening to voters and voting to rebuild at Rundlett are misleading. I didn’t remember her position on this, so I did some research. Faced with a petition with 800 signatures, Boucher said it would set a “bad precedent” to reverse a decision the prior school board had made, (Concord Monitor March 4, 2024), as she maintained throughout 2024 (Concord Monitor June 12, 2024, and numerous Facebook posts opposing revisiting the decision). She didn’t vote to reverse the decision until the charter amendments, (which she opposed), passed overwhelmingly.
Her rationale that it would set a “bad precedent” to review a previous board’s decision speaks more to protecting the board as an institution than listening to voters. This is a red flag for me. Bad and/or unpopular decisions should be reviewed, not the least because to cling to a bad decision just because it has already been made can result, and did result, in more bad decision-making. A new school board member should not be afraid to offer a fresh and independent perspective, not deference to the status quo or to preferences of school administrators it is duty-bound to oversee.
Liz Boucher seems like a person who has done a lot of good as a PTO member. A PTO does not have the same role as a school board, however. Given the way she has gone about making decisions as a board member, Don Brueggeman should replace her.