Williamstown School Committee Sends Budget Back to Fin Comm

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Elementary School Committee on Tuesday night signed off on a $6.6 million fiscal 2017 budget.

The spending plan is the culmination of weeks of hearings and meetings both at the School Committee and town Finance Committee level.

It is the second budget approved by the School Committee this year. Last week, at the request of the Fin Comm, Superintendent Douglas Dias presented a budget revised from the plan voted by the School Committee on March 17.

The latest revision trimmed an addition $53,256 from the appropriated, or town-funded, side of the budget.

Tuesday's vote sends the latest revision back to the Finance Committee for approval at its Wednesday 7:30 meeting at Town Hall.

The elementary school district is seeking $6,081,052 from town property taxes. The remainder of the budget, $528,711, is non-appropriated revenue — gifts, grants and School Choice receipts.

The appropriated side of the budget is up 5.34 percent from FY16 — a contrast with municipal spending, which is up by 2.3 percent.

Still, the elementary school budget includes a number of cuts. The most noticeable is the decision to scale back the school's prekindergarten Side by Side program — consolidating it to two half-day sessions and eliminating a full-day option.

In the past, Dias has said the school can serve the special needs students the program is designed to serve in the half-day sessions. At a March 3 public forum at the school, he said that while he believes in early childhood education, "public schools are not in the preschool business," and the priority of Side by Side is to serve the special needs population.

As has been the case throughout the budget season, Tuesday's meeting was well attended, but only three residents asked to address the committee during its public comment period.

Steven Miller, a member of the Mount Greylock School Committee, said Dias' philosophical concern with the structure of Side By Side should be addressed outside the context of the FY17 budget discussion.

"We can easily run the program similarly next year as we are this year — maybe take a few more non-special ed kids, maybe raise tuition a bit, maybe reassign teachers a bit — which will give us more time to engage the community," Miller said. "There has been an incredible outpouring of support for the program, and I am sure we can find a long-term solution.

"Supporting full-day Side by Side keeps a program with strong community support running, keeps people working and not collecting unemployment, keeps parents engaged with the school, provides needed funds to ease the tax burden, helps prepare kids for WES and beyond. As a parent and a voter, not only is this something I believe is the right thing to do, but something I am happy to do."

In a Tuesday email to Miller prior to the meeting, Dias wrote, "As I have stated publicly, I have several historical, procedural and supervisory questions about the [Side by Side] program that require answers, and it will take time to fully explore them so that we are able to establish a process that remains equitable, properly licensed and well-managed for the future. … As such, I will not be suggesting any new preschool initiatives until we are able to obtain answers to these questions."

Neither Dias nor the members of the committee directly addressed the Side by Side issue at the meeting. Instead, the committee's questions focused on the nature of the budget tweaks that achieved the latest $53,000 reduction in appropriated expenses and the need to pass a budget in order to stay on track with the rest of the town's budget process.

"Members of the public are concerned about the speed with which these things are happening, but it's a natural process that happens in parallel with the needs of the town," Chairman Dan Caplinger said. "To me, it's appropriate to take this action rather than cause a disruption in the town's natural financial planning process."

The committee voted 5-0 to approve the amended budget — after hearing that some of the enrichment programs that have been cut from the appropriated budget will be restored thanks to outside funding sources.

Principal Joelle Brookner announced that the Williamstown Elementary School Endowment has committed to fund Math Club, Lego Robotics and the school's fourth-grade program with Lenox's Shakespeare & Company in FY17.

Brookner said the school likely will have funding for its garden program as well, but it is in the process of re-evaluating that activity in light of new science standards for the classroom.

In other business on Tuesday, Brookner encouraged members of the community to attend a Wednesday, April 6, at 6 p.m. anti-bullying forum at Mount Greylock. "Bullying Is Bullying Our Kids Online or Offline," is a presentation of the Berkshire County district attorney's office and is aimed at parents. But Brookner said all community members are welcome to attend.

Williams College Lone Suitor for Development of Water Street Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
11:15AM / Thursday, April 16, 2026

Williams College hopes to replace the current Facilities Services building on Latham Street and use that space for a new  athletics complex. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If the town accepts an offer from Williams College, a 1.27-acre lot that long has been eyed as a possible venue for housing and economic development instead will find a use similar to its history.

 

The college was the lone respondent to the town's request for proposals to purchase and develop 59 Water St., a dirt lot known around town as the "old town garage site." This was first reported Wednesday by Greylock News. 

 

If successful, the college plans to use the former town garage property for the school's Facilities Services building. Or it could be turned back into a parking lot.

 

Williams' offer includes a $500,000 upfront payment and a 10-year agreement to make $50,000 annual donations to the Mount Greylock Regional School District according to the proposal unsealed on Wednesday afternoon.

 

If it closes the deal, the college said it will explore development of a three- to four-story Facilities Services building with "a structured parking facility providing approximately 170 spaces."

 

"[I]f site constraints impact our ability to develop both structured parking and the Facilities Services building, our backup proposal is to develop the parking structure with approximately 170 spaces, also with capacity to support institutional and public needs," the college's proposal reads.

 

The college's current Facilities property at 60 Latham St. has an assessed value — for the .42-acre lot only — of $113,000 and an annual property tax bill of $1,606, according to the town's website.