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Jesse Wirtes, left, Mount Greylock's facilities supervisor and a member of the School Building Committee, was praised by the rest of the committee at last Tuesday's meeting.

Mount Greylock Building Committee Applauds Staff's Efforts

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Building Committee last week took a break from talking about the district's future to recognize how its present staff is working diligently to help move the project forward.
 
Robert Ericson, a Lanesborough selectman and former member of the School Committee who serves on the SBC's facilities working group, told his colleagues that he did not think people realized how much work Jesse Wirtes and the custodial crew do.
 
"Not only do they have to keep the school going on a day-to-day basis, but they have to attend to Turner [Construction] and the architects and all the work that is going on in the background here.
 
"Between running around like crazy, answering questions, being concerned about the traffic out front, I don't think anyone appreciates how hard these guys are working and the hours they're putting in."
 
The district's business manager, who also serves on the School Building Committee, echoed Ericson's remark.
 
"I always say, I don't know what other schools do without a Jesse and a Rob [Wnuk]," Nancy Rauscher said. "They're incredible resources, and they're very passionate. [Interim Superintendent Kim Grady] and I talk about it all the time."
 
Ericson told the committee that Wnuk went through every drawing of every room in the plans for the renovation and addition to analyze details down to the location of the electrical outlets.
 
"I can tell you from a lot of experience, he must have spent hundreds of hours going over those drawings, in addition to doing his regular job," Ericson said.
 
School Building Committee co-Chairwoman Paula Consolini added that Wirtes has been helping the committee with its community outreach efforts by posting a timeline and photos on the SBC's website and videos viewable through the building project's Facebook page.
 
"You've documented [the construction work] clearly beyond your regular time," Consolini told Wirtes.
 
Consolini added that Principal Mary MacDonald, who serves on the School Building Committee, also deserves the group's thanks for her efforts on the project's design working group. MacDonald previously was the point person for the SBC in developing an education plan that earned praise from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
 
"We have a lean staff, and listening takes a lot of effort — not just listening to the staff but to the community as well," Consolini said.

Tags: MGRHS school project,   

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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