Concord School Board Member Seeks New Middle School Feature Comments

Schools Concord School Board Member Seeks Input On New Middle School Gym Space, Other Features Liz Boucher of Zone B has created a G-doc soliciting feedback about constructing an auditorium, sports fields, and other design features.
Would you like a 900-seat auditorium, a 450-seat auditorium, or none at all, like there is now? One school board member would like to know what you think. (SAU 8 Concord School District)
CONCORD, NH — One of the new Concord school board members elected last year is asking residents for more feedback about some features of the new $200 million middle school proposed for the east side of the city.
Liz Boucher, who represents Zone B (Wards 5, 6, and 7), has created a G-doc form and requests comments about some of the school’s proposed features. She noted in the questionnaire that the data-gathering process was “created solely” by her and is “not representative of other members” of the board of education. Boucher also linked the latest presentation and video by Concord TV of the meeting on June 18. Boucher focuses on several features that nibble around the edges of the project.
The document lists yes-or-no polling questions and then solicits questions about each feature. One could presume participants could also offer comments in the questions section.
The G-doc can be accessed here: Concord Middle School Build-Feedback Form
The questionnaire samples opinions about various auditorium sizes — 900 seats, 600 seats, 450 seats, a stage in a space like a gym, what the Rundlett Middle School currently has, or none at all. The proposed 900-seat performing arts center costs $6 million, while a 450-seat venue is around $4.2 million. Participants can choose a single answer. While the city and school district are separate entities, the city does own the historic Concord City Auditorium, which is not used nearly as much as it should or could be, and seats close to 900. In the past, the district has utilized the Audi for functions.
At RMS, there are four overlapping fields. The questionnaire offers eight answers, and participants can choose from any of them. The costs of field construction range from $1.1 million for a baseball-softball field to $1.4 million for a multi-use synthetic field. A track and lawn field is around $1.7 million.
The RMS gym, which has been renovated repeatedly during the past 45 years, is 7,800 square feet. The district is proposing a 9,000-square-foot gym, but $1.2 million could be saved by building a 6,000-square-foot gym. Another question was about a 5,000-square-foot multipurpose room for wrestling and cheerleading. RMS currently has a second gym where wrestling matches are held, with bleachers and a performance stage for concerts. Reducing the size would save around $600,000. Another multiple-choice question involves installing an $18.7 million geothermal heat pump or saving about a million dollars by installing air-source heat pumps with a supplemental boiler. Solar panels are also proposed for $1.5 million to $3.25 million. An external ramp between the school’s first and second floors, costing $3.7 million, was also proposed and is being reconsidered.
Participants can offer additional comments or concerns and are asked to leave their name and voting ward, too. Boucher said in the questionnaire that the “cost estimate ranges” from $136.2 million to $166.7 million, depending on adding some of the design features. These figures are actually the price, not the cost. The cost needs to include interest on the debt, which pushes even the low price of the building to the $200 million range. View all the documents for the new Concord middle school project linked here. The latest financial estimates can be found here. Business Administrator Jack Dunn clarified some of the financials while adding the numbers the district was toying with were very early estimates. Patch has been performing back-of-the-envelope math on the varying pricing schemes with a proposed 4 percent interest rate. But Dunn said it will probably be closer to 4.5 percent — pushing the final cost even higher than previously thought.