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Pittsfield Youth Commission Advises City On Outreach

By Joe DurwinPittsfield Correspondent
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Youth Commission members discussed ways to get teens involved in community conversations about violence.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's new Youth Commission got down to its business at its second regular meeting, electing officers and weighing in on the need to bring young people into an ongoing “community conversation” on youth, gangs, and violence.

"The reason I'm here is to ask your advice," said Adam Hinds, the city's Shannon Grant coordinator who is leading the informal partnership known as the Pittsfield Community Connection emerging out of a series of recent meetings in the wake of a youth-involved shooting in August.

Hinds said there have been six recent meetings in total, beginning with a large community summit that drew more than 250 residents to Morningside Community School last month. That meeting promulgated a "community action plan" that was developed "to identify what it is the city is doing wrong for local youth."

"We all kind of realized, where's the youth in this conversation?" said Hinds, who asked the commission's advice on the best ways to bring Pittsfield teens into the discussion.

Concepts such as whether to have another large, open community meeting specifically inviting young people, or try more targeted approaches, were debated by the commission.

Austin White suggested holding school assemblies for each grade, which other members added could then lead into smaller breakout sessions.

"I definitely think small groups are the way to approach talking to youth," said Bailey Prescott.

The Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross of First Baptist Church said small groups are good, but it's important to make sure that the adults involved in the process are communicating with a broad base of local young people.

"I want to make sure we hear from all the kids," said Sholes-Ross. "There should be conversation and dialogue, to figure out what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong."

It was also made clear that thus far, even some of the local youth who are already very involved in the community are not really aware this ongoing city-sponsored "conversation" is going on.

"I didn't really hear about it until now," said Merudjina Normil.

Normil suggested that getting together with groups of students in shorter, but repeated sessions, might be useful in gaining trust and opening up better dialogue, perhaps in the form of once-a-month extended homeroom periods around the school system.

Hinds, who was hired earlier in 2014 to coordinate the city's outreach efforts to at-risk youth, said it really wasn't until the August shooting incident outside a Morningside neighborhood convenience store that these efforts really began to become visible.

"It brought us out of the woods a bit," Hinds told the commission. "After that we realized we needed some real community mobilization."

Hinds indicated a desire to keep interfacing with the Youth Commission to gather ideas and input in the future.

In other business, the commission cast votes to select two co-chairs, and four members who will serve as a supporting Executive Board for the commission. In total, the commission has 21 voting members, comprised of 14 members between 14-18 and seven adults, along with an additional five non-voting adult advisory members.

Three students self-nominated for the two co-chair positions, and five members put their hats in the ring for the four available seats on its executive board, all giving brief remarks in support of their candidacy.

Co-chair hopeful Reilly Lee stressed a familiarity with Open Meeting Laws and an understanding of collaboration among her strengths.

"By no means am I trying to suggest I know everything, I am painfully aware that I do not," Lee told her fellow commission members, who spoke of lessons in cooperation she'd learned during the past two years of high school. "Now I've found a much healthier approach to working with others, and I appreciate the benefits of collaboration."

"I felt if there was ever a group I should be a part of, it's the Pittsfield Youth Commission," said Merudjina Normil enthusiastically, also seeking a role as co-chair. "With the option of being co-chair, I feel that I would be able to add more to this committee."

Emma Stone cited her theater experience and connection with the local arts community as an asset, putting her name forth for both co-chair and executive board consideration.

"I feel strongly that there are problems in our city that are not being addressed sufficiently," said Stone. "I find that there can be a lot of blind optimism and that can be detrimental to our community."

Other candidates for the executive board included two youth members, Richard Garwood and Bailey Prescott, along with adults Ben Klein, and Ann Gallo, a newly added advisory member who has not formally been appointed to the commission.

"I know what hard work is," said Garwood. "I know what it takes to get your voice heard."

"I never used to be able to talk in front of anyone," said Prescott, who said her other volunteer civic experiences in recent years had greatly improved her ability to work with others. "I've gotten a lot stronger, a lot more confident, and have gained a greater sense of empathy for other people."

In an unorthodox methodology for a public body, votes were cast by secret ballot, and collected by Director of Administrative Services Julia Sabourin for later tallying. Voting and non-voting advisory members filled out anonymous ballots, with the latter marked to denote their non-voting status.

The outcomes of the vote have not yet been released, and no response was received to a subsequent request for the results on Friday.


Tags: teen violence,   teenagers,   youth commission,   

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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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