Adams-Cheshire Breaks Ground On New School
 Students were excused from classes Wednesday to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for a renovated Hoosac Valley High School. |
Three years later, School Building Authority Executive Director Katherine Craven drove back across the state to help break ground on a $40 million renovation project.
"That was the turning point," Craven said on Wednesday. "They believed this was that important to these communities. They demonstrated the need and we thought this was a great project."
After years in the making and the state agreeing to shoulder more than $28 million of the $40.5 million renovation, officials finally held a groundbreaking ceremony.
"It's really hard to believe this is really happening," Superintendent of Schools Alfred W. Skrocki said. "It's going to feel good when it's over. We still have a ways to go."
Craven said $1.3 million was already allocated to the project and the MSBA will make monthly payments. State Treasurer Steven Grossman, chairman of the MSBA, will return with a ceremonial $28 million "big check" in the future, she said.
"This has been a long journey for the people of Adams and Cheshire," Craven said. "You have a great team here."
The Adams-Cheshire Regional School District had been seeking a solution to the aged Adams Memorial Middle School, which was closed two years ago. The reconfigured 40-year-old high school will add about 15,000-square feet to accommodate a Grades 6-through-8 school. Both towns approved a debt exclusion for the project.
The leadership of the school paved the way by answering all of the questions posed in the "confusing" project, Craven said. It could have been broken into two school buildings but the local officials took the lead and created a solid proposal.
"This is part of $2 billion school construction projects in the commonwealth," Craven said. "I think this was the right solution."
When MSBA started funding projects in 2008 after a moratorium, officials from Adams-Cheshire were first in line to advocate for their project. Of 450 competitive projects, Adams-Cheshire showed the leadership, desire and a well-thought-out education plan to receive help from the state, Craven said.
Howard Wineberg, co-chairman of the building committee, thanked the taxpayers, parents and town officials who supported the project, saying the two towns should be proud that they decided to invest in the students.
"Yes, we all will pay for this for many years but the rewards exceed the cost," Wineberg said. "We should all be proud of the communities we live in and the value we put on education."
Principal Henry Duval excused the students from class to watch the ceremony.
"We wanted them to know that we're not doing this without them," Duval said. "We wanted them to be involved."
 Howard Wineberg, left, Daniel Delorey, Alfred Skrocki, Paul Butler, Arthur 'Skip' Harrington, Thomas Gamari and Henry Duval. |
"I think it will give us a more positive attitude to do more," Gamari said. "I just feel like once we get this we'll say 'oh, we have a new school. Let's do our best.'"
The project is expected to proceed on a quick pace with targeted completion in summer 2012. The students will occupy the now vacant Adams Memorial Middle and Notre Dame schools for the next school year and then the middle school and the high school will move back into the renovated building.
Duval said the transition to the other schools is going well, with Adams Memorial recently being repainted and cleaned up and officials now going through the process of fine-tuning schedules. Duval agreed with Skrocki that the ceremony was a milestone, but officials are far from the end.
Tags: Hoosac Valley, project,
