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The Berkshire County Education Task Force meets Saturday in Dalton.

Education Task Force Keeps Focus on Creating Opportunities for Students

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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DALTON, Mass. — The Berkshire County Education Task Force on Saturday pressed forward less than 48 hours after one school district voted to step back from its participation in the effort.
 
The committee had a full agenda for its regularly scheduled meeting at Nessacus Middle School, but Thursday's decision from the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee to withdraw from the task force colored the conversation.
 
Chairman John Hockridge opened the meeting by addressing the vote head on.
 
"I just wished they'd put off the discussion for one more meeting to give us the opportunity to tell them where we're coming from," Hockridge said of the Berkshire Hills committee, which is responsible for schools in Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge. "There were a lot of misunderstandings about where we're coming from at that meeting.
 
"No one is asking anyone to commit to a countywide district. We've said that all along. There will be interest from some to be early adopters to cooperate with neighboring district. Some will choose not to participate. We understand that.
 
"We're just asking people to keep an open mind. School districts are driving the bus, and where that bus goes will always be up to them."
 
That theme was repeated frequently in comments as the committee discussed its immediate future and its long-term transformation from a study group to a resource for "pioneer districts" that want to look at ways to cooperate across district lines in order to enhance educational opportunities.
 
Some committee members on Saturday said the focus on improved education for all students in Berkshire County was missed in the reaction to the the task force's recommendation that the county aspire to forming a single unified school district over the next 10 years.
 
"I've had three meetings this week in which key leaders told me the message is getting away from us," task force member Douglas McNally said. "It's becoming a message about money only, and the quality of education is getting lost."
 
Messaging was a major topic on Saturday as the task force fine-tuned the text for a webinar that will be presented to school superintendents, administrators and union representatives on Sept. 26 and a statement that will guide presentations to municipal bodies and the general public throughout the fall.
 
The superintendent of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District suggested that the task force's messaging include an emphasis on the problem it seeks to address: broadening and strengthening educational opportunities for all in a time of declining enrollment and rising costs.
 
"I'm wondering if we are so immersed in the educational impact that we're assuming other people know how far educational opportunities have fallen in the Berkshires," Robert Putnam said. "When I went to Monument Mountain in the 1960s, there were four or five different languages offered.
 
"[At Hoosac Valley], I have one art teacher. We only do Spanish. There's no French, no Latin. I don't know that people are fully aware of what's happening."
 
McNally noted that the curricular and extracurricular offerings are declining at all the county's public schools, a point that the executive director of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission agreed with.
 
"We can point to one of the districts that's perceived as being high quality," Nat Karns said. "We can say, this is one of our strongest districts, and this is what's happening to them. It's even worse for the districts that are struggling more."
 
The core message discussed by the task force on Saturday specifies several examples of what a single countywide district could offer that the current structure does not:
 
"Every junior and senior in Berkshire County has access to a distance learning economics course -- for which they receive both high school and college credit -- that meets during second period across all high schools and is taught by an MCLA or BCC professor."
 
"Every student on the autism spectrum in the county and their teacher has access to an autism specialist who visits the school at least once each week …"
 
"Every middle and high school student has access to extracurricular offerings co-led by an industry specialist in rocketry, robotics and video game programming through which the students partner in person and virtually across districts and compete across the county."
 
McNally said the task force should be careful not to paint too bleak a picture of the state of education in the county and pointed out that the schools are doing a good job in providing the core education.
 
"What's being lost is choice -- the choice to take electives," McNally said. "What's happening is the floor is becoming the ceiling. If all they're getting is the core, they're not college ready."
 
And the loss of options for students has real implications for the communities the schools serve, North Adams Superintendent Barbara Malkas said.
 
"The personalized learning movement that is happening [nationally] now is all about having the students ready for the economy of the future, and the economy of the future is undefined," Malkas said. "So these options, this personal choice, the development of interest and critical thinking and seeking out information, the intrinsically motivated learner -- this happens when you engage students through options and choice.
 
"By not having that, there's an economic disadvantage we're handicapping communities with."
 
As for any short-term economic advantages of consolidation -- i.e. cost savings to local taxpayers -- some task force members advised against citing specific figures in their presentations this fall. Partly that caution was because of the uncertainty of projections, and partly because of a belief that some of the potential savings on the administrative side of the ledger would be reallocated to the classroom rather than realized in direct cuts in property tax levies.
 
"Once we get into the pit of financial savings, we're probably going to called liars in the long run," McNally said.
 
At its next meeting in October, the task force plans to return to a discussion of what form the body will take going forward -- after this fall's presentations to stakeholders throughout the county. Meanwhile, the work of those presentations continues, starting with the Sept. 26 webinar for educational leaders throughout the county; events to which Berkshire Hills administrators and staff will be invited, Hockridge said.
 
In the meantime, the members of the task force will be out in force explaining the group's rationale for recommending the aspiration of a single district for the county's schools.
 
"You are spokespeople [for the task force]," consultant Nathan Levenson of District Management Group told the panel. "People in the community are going to come up to you and corner you in the grocery store and ask you questions. It really is helpful to stick to the script.
 
"All of us have a different style. All of us might have a slightly different take. To the extent possible, it really is helpful to echo this [BCETF statement] with as little embellishment or modification as possible."

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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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