Clarksburg Looking to Repair School Front Entrance

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Plans for renovating the bathrooms are on hold, which means the summer camp will again take place at the elementary school. 

 

Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes informed the School Committee on Thursday that Tom Bona, who's been volunteering as lead on school repairs, said the work to bring the bathrooms up to Americans With Disabilities Act compliance couldn't be scheduled in time. 

 

"I think the concern was, as it kind of pushed towards the end of the school year, that there wasn't enough time to post and hire a contractor to meet the timeline," said Superintendent John Franzoni, participating via Zoom. 

 

He said the Berkshire Regional Planning Board considered the school could use the $30,000 in ADA grant money toward the purchase of the equipment and then schedule the work for summer 2027.

 

The town is expected to move forward with repairs to the front entrance. The concrete pad has cracked and heaved and poses a hazard. 

 

"I think it's important to prioritize that entrance way, which is in pretty bad shape, and the town has already followed through to get some bids," Franzoni said. "We got good communication from [Road Foreman] Kyle Hurlbut today about how much he was recommending to the town to request through the stabilization, I think, was $19,500 to cover the high end of the bids and any kind of contingencies."

 

The town had agreed to use any funds leftover from the school roof project to put toward other repairs and renovations at the school. Town meeting last year authorized a debt exclusion to borrow $500,000 toward the project. The roof came in around $400,000.