On Dec. 23, two Concord residents filed a declaratory judgment petition in Merrimack Superior Court seeking a determination that state Dept. of Education waivers allowing the Conant and Kimball elementary schools to be built on smaller parcels than the state allows were improper.
According to state regulations, new elementary schools must be built on parcels 10-acres or more, according to sources. The land Conant sits on is 8.7 acres, according to school district documents; Kimball is 2.8 acres. The state DOE granted Ed. 321.30 Waivers for Kimball and Conant, allowing them to be reconstructed on the smaller parcels. However, the lawsuit challenges these waivers, stating they are invalid and beyond the rule-making authority delegated to the DOE. In other words, a source stated, legislative delegation of power to make rules does not mean that the agency also has the power to waive those same rules.
According to sources, there are contrasting examples where the Legislature has delegated the power to waive administrative rules in certain situations to other agencies, but not in this case with DOE.
The lawsuit also challenges "the factual inadequacy of the two waiver application filed and granted previously."
As reported yesterday on OurConcord.com, the Concord School District must reapply to the state Dept. of Education for new waiver applications to build new schools on the Kimball and Conant parcels since the waivers previously received were renovation plans.
I'll update this story as more information becomes available.
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23 comments:
Tony,
Do you know who filed the lawsuit?
Thanks,
Mark Coen
My guess would be Charles Russell and mr. baer.How do you know this, i did a search it's not public information.
WOw, I guessed right it was Charlie Russell and Mr. Baer, now are you going to reimburse the taxpayers for this last ditch attempt, because it's not fair to the taxpayers.
I think it is more the other way around: Charlie and Jim are doing what is best for the taxpayers and community as a whole.
If a new Kimball school is to be built, it should be built on a proper footprint.
Or, we can come together as a community, and spend the money we have bringing Kimball and Walker up to fire code and ADA compliance, saving the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
Can anyone say "Langley Parkway"
Remember what a tremendously expensive game was played there?
The project was delayed for nearly 10 years as the case slogged through multiple court fights.
In the end, the road was built, but for many millions of dollars more then it should have been had it not been stalled.
In the plaintiff was sanctioned and and fined several thousand dollars for their wrongful use of the law to delay what was legal.
I hope the plaintiffs in this case recall those facts...it could become quite expensive for them.
Absolutely not.
You are wasting time and resources, and money to get YOUR agenda through.
I personally hope that you guys lose and the school board is smart enough to do a lawsuit against you and the taxpayer association.
How much are you going to waste of everyone's time?
Good exclusive news reporting.
If the school district did not do this right, it should not go ahead.
Just to be clear, neither I nor the Concord Taxpayers Association are involved in the lawsuit.
Jim Baer, who is a board member of the CTA, signed onto the lawsuit as an individual ... and he is more than within his right to do so. Unlike other countries, where people do harmful things to others when they think they've been wronged, Americans sue. It is a more civil approach, don'tcha think?
As far as the Langley Parkway situation goes, we'll agree to disagree. It was a disgrace that the city destroyed wetlands and took away a family's home just to shave a few minutes off the commutes of hospital employees. It drove poor Mr. Tuttle to his grave. All involved can hang their heads in shame for killing that man with their callous disregard for his personal property rights. The people involved in those lawsuits were right to fight the parkway ... even if they lost.
Ha! the Concord Monitor today caught up with the story you broke 2 days ago.
Tony,
With regard to Landley Parkway,
they did more to then "loose" the fight.
The final court decision sanctioned and fined the plaintiff....for illegally using system.
A federal judge upheld sanctions against attorney Rob Blakeney for accusing a city employee of obstruction of justice.
Blakeney will be required to pay $5,000 in attorneys' fees to the city of Concord and $2,400 to Concord Hospital and St. Paul's School. He had been ordered nearly a year ago to pay those fees, but he appealed that order.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090618/NEWS01/906180308
Umm, so what?
So what?
Just saying I hope they are on solid legal ground the attempt is not ruled as friviless.
I think the most damning part of this was the article a few weeks ago about the fire department running out of money, being 200K over budget. This, while the school board spent 800K to hire someone to plan new schools.
Re: the fire dept. lack of money and the school district expenditure of money... this is what happens when you have two completely seperate forms of local government in the city: the city council and the school board. This arrangement does not serve citizens well and makes little fiscal sense. It is like a body with 2 heads and different priorities.
Where do you get a copy of the lawsuit, it's not on pacer.com
e: the fire dept. lack of money and the school district expenditure of money... this is what happens when you have two completely seperate forms of local government in the city: the city council and the school board. This arrangement does not serve citizens well and makes little fiscal sense. It is like a body with 2 heads and different priorities.
The problem is that you need to raise taxes, every child in Concord deserves more education and more money spent on them. I do not use the fire station, but I have 2 kids that get a below adequate education.
"The problem is that you need to raise taxes, every child in Concord deserves more education and more money spent on them."
With all due respect Anon840, you are dead wrong. More taxes aren't needed ... the school district is running multimillion dollar SURPLUSES! This last year, it was $1.6 million plus the millions in the building slush fund. Next year, it will be $3.2 million ... which is being put into the building slush fund. The problem is lack of funding ... the problem is that the school district is not spending the money it has wisely.
"I do not use the fire station, but I have 2 kids that get a below adequate education."
This is just laughable. No one uses the fire department until they need to. That's what they are there for. Plus, the fire department in Concord breaks even. The billing by EMTs pays for practically the entire department. Tell us that when you are having a heart attack and you're lying on the floor dying or your house is burning down ... then, I wonder, will you be thinking about a new "state-of-the-art" $20 million school or whether or not there is a fully-staffed EMT and fire department to save you.
I would rather have great schools for the kids. You have 2 kids, how about you go to a private school, and leave the money to the others that value the schools.
We certainly don't need more taxes. There are numerous studies and lots of real life examples showing that more spending does not equal more education. The cost per student at Concord Christian Academy or Bishop Brady is far lower than the public school. The education recieved is much better at those private schools. You need to spend your own money to pay for your childrens education, it's horrible that you actually believe that your neighbors owe your children an education.
Anon404, you know that folks like me can't afford to send our kids to private school ... and we can't afford higher taxes early. We're willing to make due. How come you can't make due with what everyone else can afford?
Education is the only way the next generation is going to get ahead. Now that we compete with a global economy, we need to make sure that our kids get the best and learn more then previous generations.
Personally, if you don't like the way that Concord is going move. Concord is the Capital of the state and it should have the absolute best education that it can.
Personally, if you don't like the way that Concord is going move.
Again, don't try to change things for the better, if you don't like it, move. Well, you know, if you don't like us, you know, folks who were born and raised here and, in my case, whose family has lived here for more than a century, maybe you should move. Or, learn to be tolerant and accept others for their opinions.
And feel free to go on and on about the global economy and education, blah, blah, blah ... most people I know who are "educated," with masters degrees and everything else, are out of work. Some make less than I do. Many more earn more but whatever. All kinds of educated people are in unemployment lines. Move on already.
New school buildings do not automaticly equal better education. Just think if some of that money was spent on smaller class sizes...
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