Concord Middle School (CMS) should be a source of pride for our community. It should be a place where our children, during some of their most formative years, can grow and be nourished socially, creatively, physically and academically. Unfortunately, due to decades of deferred maintenance and lack of investment, our middle schools are nearing obsolescence:
“Both buildings are run down and depressing. Ventilation and air circulation are nonexistent. Both buildings still use their original 1960s electrical systems. Hazardous materials such as asbestos, mercury and PCBs are in both buildings. Neither building has a fire suppression system. Two campus configuration is inefficient and expensive. Students report thinking twice about joining after-school clubs to avoid staying longer in the unpleasant school buildings. Existing building layout cannot serve modern educational technology or teaching methods and cannot provide for the learning experiences of the future. CMS community members are not proud of their school.”
A sampling of findings from a 2017 CMS Facility Study
Concord’s children simply deserve better. We wish the school didn’t cost as much. We wish it didn’t increase our taxes or the taxes of others. We wish more time would deliver a more cost-effective or better result (it won’t). We wish investments in CMS weren’t deferred for decades. We wish a modern school was already built (it’s 50+ years old!). But mostly, we wish that the children of Concord could have a space that supports their future TODAY. A new CMS is long overdue.
Vote for investing in a new CMS on February 16. Let’s create a new CMS that will nurture our children well into the future and will be a source of community pride.
Melissa and Greg Karczewski
262 Monsen Road