Jim Foley knows the inside of Rundlett Middle School well — he taught in Concord schools for almost 40 years. The district now plans to put a new middle school at the end of his street, and he said it’s the wrong move. 

“I don’t feel the school board has listened to the public on this issue,” Foley said. He thinks it should have to now. 

Foley, a North Curtisville Road resident, is one of nearly 900 people who have signed a citizens’ petition to give power to the voters over where Concord puts its schools. To win a spot on ballots this fall, the petition by Concord Concerned Citizens needs around 1,056 to be reviewed and accepted as legitimate — and while they’re well on the way, time is running out. 

They want to meet their threshold before the city makes ballots for fall elections. While they haven’t heard back from the city yet about exactly when that will be, they estimate they only have a few weeks left. The filing period for this fall’s school board elections hasn’t been announced but typically falls in the first few weeks of September.

At the end of last year, the Concord School Board voted to put a new middle school near Broken Ground, rather than rebuild at the current site in the South End. At the time, and since, the overwhelming amount of public testimony has favored the latter, but school board members have resolved that Broken Ground — with a larger parcel of land, proximity to more diverse neighborhoods and minimalization of construction interruptions to current students — is the best spot.

After repeated and unsuccessful attempts to get the board to reconsider, a citizens’ group has mobilized to change the school board’s governing structure, hoping to force the district to get voter sign-off any time it wants to relocate a school. To do that, the group, Concord Concerned Citizens, needs to collect just under 1,100 signatures of registered voters in the next few weeks. That would put the question of changing the governing structure on local ballots this fall. Even if the ballot question passes, it’s unclear whether it would undo the location vote the board took last year.

Nevertheless, organizers with the group have asserted that, regardless of the outcome, they have been successful in making the most of their power as voters, in proving that there is a process to change things.

“People keep saying ‘that’s what they decided, there’s nothing we can do,’” Jeff Wells, a founding member of the group said. “Well, yes, there is.”

While citizen voices in favor of the Broken Ground location have been elusive, some residents — even those who would have preferred a rebuild at Rundlett — have worried that reversing the location will prolong the construction of a badly needed school.

Foley signed the petition at an event held by the Concerned Citizens group on Sunday. Another was scheduled for Tuesday night and, for South End residents, they’re going door to door and might pay a visit. They’ve been outside grocery stores and the farmers’ market and, and on social media, They even offer to meet residents at their homes to sign.

The group has also tried to get the Concord City Council to take a stand: They submitted a proposed letter that, if councilors had signed it, would have asked the school board to reopen the location question. The group also made a formal request to Mayor Byron Champlin to put a discussion of the middle school project on the board’s agenda. He declined.

Ward 10 Councilor Jeff Foote attended the signing event on Sunday. He hasn’t signed the ballot petition, but he said he agrees with them — and many other Ward 10 constituents — that the South End is the better place for the new school.

Lisa Stevens signed Sunday morning. She hasn’t followed the project or school board meetings as closely as she should, she said, but she’s sure that she doesn’t want another new school where she lives on the East Side — the traffic is bad enough as it is.

“No one in my neighborhood wants it,” Stevens said. “If they do it, I may move.”

Notably, if the ballot question earns a spot, it will appear alongside races for three school board seats: board President Pamela Walsh, Bob Cotton and Barbara Higgins. All at-large members, are at the end of their current terms.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com