What a novel idea, a meeting of school and city leaders. The only thing novel is the inclusion of representatives from Merrimack Valley schools! For years the school district had a committee called the Joint-City School Committee. It met once a month. The city manager and the school superintendent took turns chairing the meetings. Names like Julia Griffin and Bob Silva were key contributors to the work of the committee. They worked out a Joint Use of Facilities Agreement that has worked for years. It reflected excellent use of facilities, sharing of the many facilities, the needs of the community and good old-fashioned horse trading (instead of charging each other fees).

Evidently, the school board unilaterally changed its committee to the City and Community Relations Committee. In view of its recent ignoring of the community pushback to the siting of the middle school, it seems a grade of F could be given for its success. Let’s hope that the new group which won’t meet until summer will have more success. The school board of 2023 never consulted the history book or Concord residents who were on those committees that have been successful or how they met challenges (such as the transition from a junior high school to a middle school). Why was it so hard for them to “learn from the past, solve problems in the present, and then move on”?

Betty Hoadley

Concord