City to Get Dame School

A deal has been struck between and the concerning the transfer of the Dame Elementary School for a potential community center.

In the March 5 school district information packet, containing information for tonight’s meeting, School Superintendent includes a draft of a Feb. 28 letter to Concord City Manager agreeing to terms of a transfer. According to the letter, the district will transfer Dame to the city on Sept. 1. In exchange, the school district will receive free use of the two nights in the spring. It will also receive use of the school in March and April when spring athletic teams cannot user outdoor facilities to practice.

In the letter to Aspell, Rath also raised a new issue that hadn’t been mentioned publicly during the last 18 months of discussions about a community center at the Dame: The transfer of to the school district.

Rath wrote that a part of the agreement would be that the city and school district will also “continue discussions about the possibility that the School District would assume full responsibility for Memorial Field some time in the future,” with the school district making a final decision on the matter of transferring the field.

The school board is expected to reach a public decision on the transfer tonight.

Budget hearings

During the past few weeks, the school board has been holding work sessions in preparation for new public hearings about the .

At 5:30 p.m., the school board will hold a public hearing about the budget. The proposed general fund budget will be nearly $70.9 million, or about a 0.5 percent increase as compared to last year. Another $5 million will be brought in from grants and the food service fund. The district is expecting to raise $1.9 million more in revenue. While not finalized, the proposed budget will require a 3.5 percent tax increase, using a 0.37 percent valuation resulting in $13.43 per thousand assessed property value.

The board will also hold two more public hearings on the budget:

• 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, at .
• 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 8, in the Central Office.

Other school news

During the holiday season, the community provided nearly $2,300 for the , according to a thank you letter from , the treasurer of the organization. The money was used to help provide more than 4,800 food baskets for 2,400 families.

“Please know that you are an integral part to the success of this all volunteer effort,” she wrote. “Thank you for your generous gift.”