On April 30, 2024, Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly in favor of naming the new middle school after Ellen Garrison.
As of this writing, subsequent to the May 7, 2024, School Committee meeting, it is evident that the School Committee does not intend to follow the strong message sent to it by the town’s legislative body.
In Concord, we pride ourselves upon the idea that our town played an important part in the development of democracy as a form of government that is uniquely responsive to the wishes of citizens. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous quote about how the shots fired in Concord were “heard around the world,” comes to mind, of course.
Concord, as Emerson wrote, was indeed a birthplace of democracy. The School Committee, by ignoring the town’s legislative body, appears content to make Concord, in a small and yet very significant way, a place where democracy also goes to die.
I urge the School Committee to reconsider the course they have so far chosen to pursue.
Craig Awmiller
Lang Street