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The main office at Mount Greylock Regional School, one of the areas where carpet tiles will need to be replaced this summer at the expense of the manufacturer.

Mount Greylock Building Issues to Be Addressed this Summer

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Work at the new Mount Greylock Regional School will continue through the summer months, the School Committee learned last week.
 
During a brief early evening open session on Wednesday, Superintendent Kimberley Grady told the committee that the middle-high school will again be an "active work site" after the planned last day of classes on June 24.
 
The work will include taking care of some items still on the punch list since the school opened for classes in September, but it also includes the replacement of carpet tiles in several areas, including the band room, orchestra room, media center (library), main office, guidance suite and pupil services department.
 
The cost of the work will be covered by the manufacturer of the carpet tiles involved, Grady said.
 
Grady indicated that the tile had an odor because of a manufacturing problem.
 
"We're the first [customer] in North America to have this problem," she said.
 
While the work can be completed during the summer at no cost to the district, it is an inconvenience.
 
"We will be breaking apart rooms that we finally put together," Grady said.
 
In addition to the interior work, laborers will be on site this summer addressing defective sidewalk slabs, including a high-profile spot in front of the main entrance of the school that was the victim of frost heaves in the building's first winter.
 
In other building project business on Wednesday, the School Committee OK'd the creation of a finance subcommittee of the School Building Committee to increase efficiency during the closeout phase of the $64 million addition/renovation project.
 
Grady told the committee that the School Building Committee has been having difficulty finding times when it can get a quorum together for a meeting, but there still are bills to be paid.
 
She said that Williamstown's Hugh Daley and Lanesborough's Steve Wentworth, who served on the School Building Committee's finance working group, have agreed to serve on a subcommittee along with Grady to approve invoices and recommend them for payment.
 
"We are slowed down with the process," she said. "This will speed it up."
 
The members of the committee also got some homework. They were tasked with completing their individual evaluations of Grady and returning the forms by June 3 so their responses can be compiled and the full committee can complete its formal review at its June meeting.
 
In the interim, the School Committee has a third May meeting on the calendar for Thursday, May 23, at 6 p.m.

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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