CLARKSBURG, Mass. — School officials are hoping to take the next stop in renovations to the 60-year-old school with a refit of the bathrooms. 

 

Some upgrades had been done but there have been issues with obsolete parts and making them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

 

"There's multiple bathroom issues. Every bathroom and the, obviously, we talked about the front entryway with the dangerous concrete," said Superintendent John Franzoni at last week's School Committee meeting. "There's some other things about the exterior, the brick and mortar, ... we look at the garage this summer because we're concerned about some of the access to the outdoors in that area, along with paving issues and the grease trap in the kitchen."

 

The town was able to get an ADA grant through the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and has some funds put away in stabilization that could be used toward the project. 

 

Town Administrator Ronald Boucher and Thomas Bona, who's taken on the oversight of several construction projects at the school, agreed to get some estimates on the bathroom work and the cement entry during school vacation next week. 

 

"My goal was, if we could start that work right after school ends in June, we could front load the grant money there so we could use that first because we got to probably do an extensive abatement, I can pretty much guarantee you on whatever ones we decide to do," Franzoni said. 

 

He anticipates a "pretty extensive renvation," and thought it important to get some numbers to see whether it was worth pursuing as it could take up a chunk of the stabilization account. It might be better to do the entryway first if it's a more reasonable project, he said.