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The organizers unveiled the banner which will be leading the way during the march at a meeting on Tuesday night as they iron out the final details of the event.
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The march is the day after the 76th anniversary of the speech delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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U.S. Sen. Edward Markey will be speaking.
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Attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a member of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women also highlights the speaking portion.
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NAACP Berkshire Branch President Dennis Powell is known for delivering powerful speeches.

'Four Freedoms' March Set for Saturday in Pittsfield

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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NAACP Berkshire Branch President Dennis Powell is both one of the organizers of the march and one of the speakers to talk at the rally.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It was an "unprecedented" time in 1941 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation and called for a world "founded upon four essential human freedoms."
 
It's been 76 years since then and the resolve of the Berkshires remains strong toward securing exactly that.
 
On Saturday, hundreds will be marching down North Street to stand up for those four freedoms President Franklin D. Roosevelt cited: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
 
"There was interest from several groups to bring the community together to stand up for their freedoms and rights," said Megan Whilden, one of the organizers. "And to really stand up against the resurgence of bigotry and prejudice."
 
It was just about a month ago when the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Berkshire Central Labor Council, and the Berkshire Brigades started talking about making such a public stand. The idea came up for a march and since then it has taken off. Now some 100 local organizations have pledged their support, including some 20 elected officials, and the group is expecting at least 500 people to join.
 
The rally kicks off 12:30 on Saturday, starting at St. Joseph's Church on North Street. At 1, the crowd will march down North to First, waving flags and banners, and end at First Church of Christ on Park Square. Inside the church, a lineup of close to a dozen speakers will provide remarks — including U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and James Roosevelt III, grandson of FDR.
 
"We definitely wanted a wide range of speakers to represent our community," Whilden said. 
 
Beyond Markey and Roosevelt, speakers include attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a member of the state Commission on the Status of Women; Dennis Powell, president of the Berkshire NAACP branch; Elizabeth Recko-Morrison, the 2015 labor person of the year; Eleanore Velez of Berkshire Community College's Multicultural Center; Ethan Zukerman, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Civic Media; and spoken word poets from Miss Hall's School. The Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross of First Baptist Church will be master of ceremonies.
 
Whilden said the group is trying to limit speakers to three minutes to keep the program under 45 minutes.
 
Concurrently, the three main organizations have formed a Four Freedoms Coalition. So far, all eyes of that new group have been focused on the march but they hope to move forward after it.
 
The new "non-partisan" coalition hopes to serve a role in bringing together various organizations and individuals to "reaffirm our true American values as outlined in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's landmark Four Freedoms speech."
 
Following the march, some 30 "action tables" will be manned by various groups that are involved in projects helping to secure those freedoms. For example, if somebody wanted to help with the Berkshire Immigrant Center, he or she can find out exactly how.
 
"We don't want to reinvent the wheel. We just want to provide the community a place to come together," Whilden said.
 
What do they hope to accomplish with the march? A message that this community is against hate and bigotry in all of its forms. That this community is united in its efforts to secure those four freedoms for everybody.
 
"We want it to be a big tent where everyone feels welcomed ... It shows everybody in the community that they are not alone," Whilden said, later adding, "we're trying to be as broad and inclusive as possible."
 
The organizers have been working on the project over the holidays and returned Tuesday to find hundreds expressing support and interest. The 100 or so organizations range from private businesses to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the mayors of both North Adams and Pittsfield, to religious organizations to cultural groups. The Brigades, the Berkshire organizing arm of the state Democratic Party, alerted its email list as did the North Adams Chamber of Commerce. Facebook invites were passed along to some 2,600 people.
 
"It's really been heartwarming to see the positive response," Whilden said.
 
Saturday may be a little cold for those marching, with temperatures predicted to be in the 20s, but the sun is supposed to be out and no rain is in the forecast. 

Tags: community event,   march,   North Street,   rally,   

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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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