Broken Ground and Mill Brook Schools will be closed for students on Tuesday, Feb. 11, New Hampshire’s primary election day, because of concerns about traffic at the polls, according to the Concord School District. Teachers will attend school for a professional development day.
The school board voted unanimously to cancel school for both Broken Ground and Mill Brook Monday night at its monthly meeting. Broken Ground, a grades 3-5 school, is a polling place for Ward 10. Mill Brook, which is K-2, is next door.
“Transportation is a huge issue and there are 16 buses that serve those two schools. My concern is that there are students that would have to cross that path into the gym to get to their bus,” said board member Barb Higgins. Voting takes place in the Broken Ground gym. “These are our littlest, most tender students.”
School Board member Tom Croteau said the board received a letter from a parent expressing concerns about traffic at the two schools.
“Just knowing those two buildings and knowing their absolute close proximity and knowing the type of parking and movement of vehicles that are over there, I just think that we would be putting (staff) in a difficult position over there by having to herd those kids at the same time as keeping the media and keeping the general public out of her building, or safety’s sake,” Croteau said.
“Not for one second am I against having voters in our school. We want that – that’s why we built those buildings in part. But I think in terms of just the kids and the safety and orderliness, I think it makes sense,” he added.
Broken Ground is the only polling place that’s located at a school – for now. Moving polls to other district schools has been a conversation between the city and the district during the last few years, officials said at Monday’s meeting.
The school day will not need to be made up at the end of the year, Interim Superintendent Frank Bass said. Bass said he would be applying for an emergency waiver from the state’s Department of Education.
“We all looked at ways in which we could make this work. But the more we thought about this, the more we realized no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to allow for a good educational opportunity to be had on that day,” Bass said.
District administration will be researching whether afterschool options at places like the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club can still be made available on Feb. 11.