48th Annual UCP Telethon Slated for Sunday

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — United Cerebral Palsy Association of Berkshire County will holds its 48th annual telethon this Sunday, Jan. 30, live at the Crowne Plaza from 1 to 5. According to executive director Christine Singer, this year's fundraiser is critical to UCP's many programs for area adults and children with disabilities.

"We serve some 2,200 adults and children with physical and developmental disabilities," she said in a phone interview. "It's not just for people with cerebral palsy. We see people with brain injuries, muscular dystrophy, MS, autism; we see everything. I've noticed that lately a lot of middle class people who were doing fine taking care of someone in their family, now with the times, they are really struggling. We need them to find us."

Money raised from the telethon will go directly into UCP's programming, including its $500,000 assistive technology center which loans out adaptive devices such as wheelchairs, listening devices and visual scanners to those who need them.

"This is open to anybody in the community," Singer said. "People can borrow these devices for two to four weeks and if they really like them we can try to get a grant for them to have one or they can ask a friend or family member to buy one for them if that's possible. We also have medical equipment on loan such as wheelchairs and walkers. A lot of times on a Friday night we'll get a call from the hospital saying so-and-so can go home if they have a wheelchair. So we loan them one."

Adaptive equipment is not the only service that UCP of Berkshire County provides. It also offers school vacation and leadership programs for children with a variety of mental and physical disabilities. Jessica Peck, a UCP volunteer, works with many of the children. The outcome, she said, is usually a supportive one.

"I try to show kids how they can achieve their goals and different ways to live," she said. "I see kids who say they can't and do something and I tell them they at least have to try to do it."

Peck is no stranger to trying. She has been living with cerebral palsy since her childhood and suffers from seizures. As she got older, she said, her dream of having a child of her own grew stronger.

"I thought I could never have kids," she said. "But here I am with a 3-year-old daughter. I call her the miracle baby. I do have a lot of support from everyone here at the office. I've been coming here since I was just a little girl."

Singer said that like Peck, there are many people in the community who have or could benefit from UCP's support. How much support they can offer is all a matter of funding.

"We know that there are people now who need support more than they ever had," she said. "For the past three years there have been cuts in family support. We always start out behind and fighting for more support. Ironically, family support programs are the most cost-effective programs in the state."

UCP president Brenda Curry hopes that money raised from the telethon will minimize the continual gaps in state funding.

"Our telethon goal is to raise $35,000 to support our under funded programs of individual and family support and children’s programming," she said in a press release. "Community support is needed to make a difference in the lives of children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities that are looking for the tools to increase their independence and to make their dreams possible."

The telethon will be televised simultaneously by Time Warner Cable on Pittsfield Community Television's Channel 16, on Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp.'s Channel 15 and Community Television of the Southern Berkshires' Channel 16 and Eric Greene of WUPE 1110-AM/100.1-FM will be conducting a radio-thon live at the plaza. In addition, there will be a silent auction and a raffle. In Pittsfield, Bernie Avalle’s staff and volunteers of PCTV will be producing the event. Pre-event support will be provided by Dave Fabiano of NBCTV and Leo Mahoney of the CTSB.

The event features children’s entertainment, educational clips about UCP services and special guests from the community.

The schedule of entertainment:


1:00 – 1:30 p.m.: Dave Winchester, CYC All-Star Cheerleaders, Berkshire Hills Music Academy

1:30 – 2 p.m.: UCP “Fun Club” Kids, Youth Alive Step, Dance & Drumline group

2 – 2:30 p.m.: UCP Dancers, Karen’s School of Dance, Berkshire Music School KinderChoir

2:30 – 3 p.m.: Kid Zone Kids

3:00 – 3:30 p.m.: Happy Hearted Voices, Troop 20 Scout Chorus, “Chin Bo Jok” Demonstration

3:30 – 4:00 p.m.: Billsville Boys

4 – 4:30 p.m.: UCP Dancers and Staff, UCP “Fun Club” Kids

4:30 – 5 p.m.: Richmond Consolidated School Jazz Band

This is a free, family event. The public is invited to all location sites and encouraged to support UCP by making a pledge. Photographers and reporters are encouraged to attend.

For further information, to sponsor the event or to make a pledge, contact Christine Singer at 413-822-1318.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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